Article Contributed on: 6/24/2008 6:56:57 PM
A Jefferson County jury was out just over an hour June 24 before finding a former high school band teacher, and the father of a small child, guilty of sexually assaulting a 16-year-old female student.
William Robert Eisenman, 33, a Bailey resident, was found guilty of one count of sexual assault of a child by one in a position of trust in a pattern of conduct, a class three felony. He was also found guilty of providing alcohol to a minor, a class four felony. The jury acquitted him of unlawful sexual contact involving another female student who had turned 18.
Eisenman was teaching band and orchestra at Evergreen High School in the winter and spring of 2007 when a female student approached him for advice about boys and relationships.
Eisenman had developed friendly relationships with many of the students and often acted as confidante. They considered him their friend as well as their teacher.
When asked for advice about relationships, Eisenman suggested that to the student that she dress and act more provocatively to attract boys. He also offered to let her model clothing for him and help her change her image.
In March, 2007 he registered at a hotel room in the Denver area and drove the girl there so that she could model the clothing for him. Eisenman sexually assaulted the teen for the first time at the hotel. Over the next two months he continued to sexually assault the teen at the school, in his car, in hotels and at his home. During a jazz festival in Greeley, Eisenman invited a friend of his to the hotel to have a "threesome."
Prosecutors showed the jurors how Eisenman had groomed the teen starting with being a good listener and friend. But as their relationship grew he told her that he had a heart condition that was incurable and that he would die within two to three years. Eisenman told the girl that he was glad he could talk to her because he couldn't tell his wife about his heart because it would upset her. He also asked the teen to take care of his wife when he died.
Eisenman was remanded into the custody of the Sheriff's Office. His bond amount was raised from $35,000 to $100,000.
He will be sentenced on Aug. 19 at 1 p.m. and faces a mandatory prison sentence. This will be an indeterminant prison sentence unique to our sexual assault statutes.
The judge will decide what the low end of sentence will be, in the range of from eight to 24 years. The prison sentence then will be up to life. If Eisenman were to be paroled, he would be on lifetime parole supervision.
Pam Russell is the public information officer for District Attorney Scott Storey.