JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Charges against a Fletcher High School teacher accused in May of having inappropriate sexual conduct with a teenager have been modified to child abuse, which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison.
Zachary Schaubhut, 26, of Neptune Beach, pleaded not guilty to those charges Thursday.
According to the initial charge of unlawful sexual activity with a minor, the victim is 16 or 17 years old.
Schaubhut is out on bond.
Neither he nor his attorney chose to comment after Thursday's arraignment.
His next pretrial hearing is Aug. 8.
The Sheriff’s Office said the incident happened at the school last October. But the victim did not report it until April, and the investigation started with the Department of Children and Families.
One student created a GoFundMe account and started the hashtag #FreeSchaub in support of his teacher, who was also the quarterback coach at Fletcher High School.
On the GoFundMe page, the creator wrote, "This teacher didn't deserve any of this. All he's done is help people that needed it. Just the other day, he said, 'I'm living the dream.' Give him his dream back, everyone."
The Duval County School District said Schaubhut has been removed from the classroom, pending the investigation.
According to his personnel file, the School District hired Schaubhut in January 2015.
I-TEAM exposes trend involving teachers accused of having sex with students
A teacher accused of sex with a student, facing a lesser penalty, is part of a startling trend the News4Jax I-TEAM uncovered earlier this year.
The I-TEAM examined local teacher sex cases from January 2012 to July 2015, focusing on the teachers' jail sentences. Ten male and female teachers were accused of having sex with their students during that three-and-a-half-year time period, but only two teachers received a lengthy jail sentence, and it was the female teachers who ended up getting a slap on the wrist.
I-TEAM: Many serve little jail time for having sex with students
"The biggest couple of challenges is the willingness of victims to participate. They have a flood of emotions, and their parents may be involved. And the parent wants to go for it, and the child doesn't want to," former sex crimes prosecutor Rick Alexander said.
Alexander reviewed Schaubhut's arrest warrant and charging notice, which revealed the alleged sexual encounter occurred in October 2015, but the victim waited seven months to come forward. During the investigation, the victim agreed to wear a listening device while being monitored by police, where Schaubhut and the victim talked about the alleged encounter, leading to his arrest.
"Of course, the wire is a confession and they can get to a conviction that way," Alexander said. "So they need to get something that's an innovated way to attack the problem."
Alexander said school-age victims typically want to avoid the public spectacle of going to trial to testify, because of the case's high-profile nature of the allegations.
It's unclear what will happen in Schaubhut's case, but a spokesperson for the state attorney's office released the following statement Thursday, saying:
"Each case has its own set of circumstances, and is handled on a case by case basis. After reviewing the facts and evidence in this case, as well as discussing this case with our victim and her family, the state filed the appropriate charge of child abuse. The victim’s family is in agreement with this decision.”