A former Randolph Union High School principal accepted a plea deal Wednesday, nearly four years after a woman accused him of sexual misconduct when she was a teenager.
David Barnett, 53, called into Orange County Superior Court by phone to enter a plea of no contest to sexual exploitation of a minor, a charge that was downgraded from a felony to a misdemeanor.
Under the terms of the deal, he would serve 30 days in jail, then be on probation for 18 months. He would also have to register as a sex offender, agree not to teach or work in an educational setting, pay $15,000 in restitution to the victim and undergo a psychosexual evaluation.
Barnett had previously pleaded not guilty to the original charge.
The deal will not be finalized until Barnett is sentenced this summer, but the change of plea is a near-final step in a case that has dragged on for close to four years.
“This case has gone on long enough,” Orange County State’s Attorney Will Porter said in an interview. The victim “wanted to get this done, too.”
The woman, who is now in her 20s, did not speak at the hearing. VTDigger generally does not name victims of sexual assault without their consent.
According to an affidavit filed with the court, the woman alleged that she started confiding in Barnett in 2009, when she was a ninth-grader at Randolph Union. She was struggling with mental health issues and depression at the time, and felt like he was a “safe person,” she said in the documents.
Interactions with Barnett turned sexual in 2011 when she was a high school junior and 16 years old, she told investigators. The relationship included kissing and, according to court documents, “heavy petting.” At least once, Barnett engaged in digital penetration, the documents allege.
Given his authority and her emotional state, she was not in a position to say “no,” she said in the affidavit.
In December 2017, the woman reported the interactions to a school counselor, who contacted police.
Barnett was placed on administrative leave that month and fired by the school district later that spring. He was charged with a felony, which carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $10,000 fine.
The charge can be filed when a person performs a sexual act with a minor at least four years younger, and when the perpetrator is “in a position of power, authority or supervision over the minor,” according to Judge Thomas Zonay, who presided over the case.
In 2018, Barnett claimed he “absolutely” did not commit the violations. The relationship with the victim was “predominantly a mentoring one,” he said, according to the affidavit.
Barnett has since moved to Maryland and is working as a real estate agent and at a bar, according to a company profile.
During the 15-minute hearing Wednesday, Barnett answered Zonay’s questions briefly, agreeing to the terms laid out in the deal. He did not appear on video.
In an interview, his attorney, Brooks McArthur, declined to say why his client had changed his plea, and what led him to do so now. He also noted the case was still pending. “This is not the end,” he said.
But McArthur suggested that the judge would be likely to accept the deal that was hashed out between the attorneys. “The judge has confidence that both sides have experienced attorneys, and is relying on the work of the state and the defense,” he said.
