Former Burbank Teacher Sean David Sigler Sentenced To 30 Years In Federal Prison In Child Pornography Case Involving Former Student
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) — A former Burbank teacher was sentenced Thursday to 360 months in federal prison for allegedly producing pornographic images of a former student he had a sexual relationship with for more than a year.
Sean David Sigler, 56, was sentenced Thursday by United State district Judge John A. Kronstadt, who called his conduct "inexcusable."
"Ruining the lives of minors is unspeakable," Kronstadt was quoted as saying in a statement from the Department of Justice statement.
Sigler pleaded guilty in September 2019 to two counts of production of child pornography. He previously taught fifth-grade students at Bret Harte Elementary School in Burbank and at Gardner Street Elementary School in Hollywood.
Federal prosecutors say Sigler was the 15-year-old girl's fifth-grade teacher and kept in contact with her after she left his class. Sigler used his position as a former teacher and mentor to gain the trust of her and her parents, then used it to gain "sexual access," prosecutors said.
Sigler had a sexual relationship with the girl when she was 15 years old, regularly driving her to his home, where he gave her alcoholic drinks and pills, and creating sexually explicit videos and photographs of her, according to federal authorities, who said the sexual relationship went on for 15 months, between September 2016 and May 2017. Prosecutors say Sigler also created child pornography by creating an image with the face of a different underage former student on images of the girl's body that was was found in a January 2018 law enforcement search of Sigler's digital devices, which held thousands of child pornography of the girl and other unknown and previously identified minors.
The former teacher agreed to forfeit $271,506 in cash seized by the government, which was the profits from the sale of the home where he produced the child pornography, federal officials said.
