DA drops final charge against Dunstan teacher
Gary Charles Wegner
JEFFERSON COUNTY – The last remaining charge against a Dunstan Middle School teacher was dropped this week, just more than a month after a district Court jury acquitted him of 17 other charges stemming from allegations he inappropriately touched some of his students.
Gary Charles Wegner, 42, appeared in court for a pre-trial hearing Monday and prosecutors took that opportunity to ask for dismissal of the only one of 18 original charges, according to Pam Russell, spokeswoman for the 1st Judicial District,
Although the jury acquitted Wegner of the other charges July 18, jurors could not reach a verdict on the single remaining charge: sexual assault on a child by a person in a position of trust, Russell said.
A friend of Wegner’s said the charges and related publicity have unfairly “damaged” the teacher.
Barb Gauthier, in an e-mail to the Edge, labeled the charges and media coverage as “sensationalized trash” and defended Wegner while calling for “help to repair Wegner’s life and reputation.
Wegner surrendered at the Lakewood Police Department in November detectives interviewed a number of Wegner’s students in the week before his arrest. Wegner, a Dunstan shop teacher who also was a soccer coach at Green Mountain High School, was placed on administrative leave from the Jefferson County School District when the investigation began.
Wegner’s status with the district was unclear Thursday. He was a teacher at Dunstan Middle School for about eight years.
An arrest affidavit issued in November clearly states that “no sex acts occurred”, instead detectives sought charges based on they believed was “inappropriate behavior on the part of the teacher,” according to LPD spokesman Steve Davis.
Police were contacted after a student took her allegations to a Dunstan M.S. school counselor.
