TRAVERSE CITY — A former Suttons Bay High School teacher will have to register as a sex offender and could face prison time after he admitted to sexually touching a student at the school in 2006.
Scott Lee Tompkins, 63, of Maple City, made the admission Thursday afternoon in 13th Circuit Court as he entered a guilty plea to a charge of assault with intent to commit sexual penetration.Â
Leelanau County Assistant Prosecutor Doug Donaldson said the charge only differs from Tompkins' original charge of third-degree criminal sexual conduct in that its maximum penalty is 10 years imprisonment, rather than 15. He said the plea deal spares the victim from testifying in court about a 2006 encounter she had with Tompkins, but still gives Judge Thomas Power the "tools" to craft an appropriate sentence.
"School should be a safe place and a teacher should be someone you can trust," he said.
It's not the only case in which Tompkins is accused of inappropriate conduct as a teacher.
A former student in August claimed Tompkins kissed her on the lips at Traverse Bay Area Intermediate School District's Career-Tech Center. A police report states he called it a "father/daughter kiss" and that it made the student "uncomfortable."
Grand Traverse County prosecutors charged Tompkins with misdemeanor assault, and a status conference in 86th District Court is scheduled for Jan. 15.
That unwanted kiss also indirectly planted Tompkins in Leelanau County's court. Donaldson said a former Suttons Bay High School student learned about the case and came forward with accusations of her own that Tompkins later confirmed in open court.
"He acknowledged that in the darkroom at the Suttons Bay High School he put his hands down her pants with the intention to commit penetration," he said.
Tompkins worked as an art and special education teacher at Suttons Bay from 1999 to 2012. He continued to work with the TBAISD Career Tech Center's film and new media program until the kissing accusations surfaced in August.
Tompkins' attorney James Hunt didn't return a call for comment.
Donaldson said Tompkins will have to register as a sex offender. A sentencing hearing has yet to be scheduled.Â
