Former Dawson teacher sentenced to prison for sexual misconduct with students

Jan. 27—A former Dawson School music teacher who pleaded guilty to sexual misconduct with several of his students was sentenced to three years in prison.

Da'Jon Tyrik James, 29, pleaded guilty in December to second-degree assault and sexual exploitation of a child. At the time of the plea, attorneys agreed James would serve probation on the exploitation count but left the sentence on the assault charge open to a judge.

On Friday, Boulder District Judge Patrick Butler sentenced James to three years in the Colorado Department of Corrections, after which he will serve 10 years of sex offender intensive supervised probation.

James will have to register as a sex offender.

"It's certainly aggravating in the court's mind that there were multiple victims here," Butler said. "It wasn't just inappropriate conduct with one student, but it was multiple students that were, in my opinion, preyed upon."

James was remanded into the custody of the Boulder County Jail to await transport to prison.

Before Butler issued the sentence, James did speak to the court.

"I wanted to start by saying sorry, and it feels like such a minuscule word right now," James said. "I wish there was a bigger way to say it, but in the time that all this has been going on I have received hundreds of pages of accounts form the victims, things from their parents, things from the DA, and every time I read one it transports me to how they felt."

James, who was denied entry into community corrections, said he was committed to getting treatment, even if that was behind bars.

"I just don't want this to happen again," James told Butler. "At the end of the day, that is what I want. If that can be done without prison, great. If you believe that it cannot be done without it, then whatever you say, I won't complain I will just do it."

James's attorney Kathryn Herold asked for a probation sentence, saying that James grew up with abuse and hardships as a child and needed help.

"That sentence to prison will harm everybody more, because it will prevent Mr. James from getting the treatment and help he needs," Herold said.

But while Butler did not opt for the maximum six years in prison he could have issued, or the four years recommended by probation and requested by prosecutors and victims, he felt a prison sentence was warranted.

"I've said many times in this courtroom and I'll repeat it again today, there are some members of our community that are more vulnerable," Butler said. "Children are more vulnerable than adults... Children are certainly members of our community that we not only value, but we have a duty as a community to protect."

According to the the Boulder County Sheriff's Office, deputies were contacted by Boulder County Child Protective Services on Feb. 5, 2021, about a possible sexual assault on a student by a teacher.

During the course of the investigation, detectives met with four female Dawson School students and their parents. Two of the students were 17-year-olds at the time, one was 18, and another was 19, the news release said. They reported that James, who was their music teacher at Dawson School, had touched them sexually. They said the touching began in January and continued until the report was made Feb. 4.

The four female students said they were subjected to inappropriate language, sexually explicit imagery, prolonged hugging, fondling, inappropriate complimenting and inappropriate kissing on their foreheads, the release said. All four students said the alleged incidents occurred on school property during school hours.

A boy who was in middle school at the time also later came forward and said James abused him. Ultimately, three of the female students and the one male student were named as victims in the charges.

Boulder Deputy District Attorney M. Breck Roesch also noted James had been fired from a school in California and a camp in Oregon for similar behavior prior to his arrival at Dawson, a private kindergarten through 12th grade school in Lafayette.

Roesch said James still appeared to be minizmizing his behavior in comments to a pre-sentence investigator.

"He knew better when he came to Dawson School," Roesch said. "This is a clear and consistent pattern for Mr. James."

One of the students spoke remotely at the hearing, and about their decision to come forward and report James' behavior.

"The one thing he miscalculated was the strength and the bravery of the survivors here today," she said.

She later added, "I will forever be thankful that this will never happen to anyone else. I will forever be thankful I was believed and supported and loved through the hardest thing I have ever had to deal with."