Former Dawson teacher takes plea deal in sex assault case

Mitchell Byars, Daily Camera, Boulder, Colo.
·2 min read
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Dec. 2—A former Alexander Dawson School music teacher accused of sexual misconduct with his female students has taken a plea deal in his case.

Da'Jon Tyrik James, 29, pleaded guilty to second-degree assault and sexual exploitation of a child, according to online court records.

Prosecutors dismissed the original three counts of sexual assault of a child by one in a position of trust and one count of unlawful sexual contact.

As part of the plea, James will be sentenced to 10 years of sex offender intensive supervised probation on the sexual exploitation charge, according to Boulder County District Attorney's Office spokeswoman Shannon Carbone.

The sentence for the second-degree assault charge will be left open to a judge, and James could face two to six years in prison.

"The victims were on board with the plea," Carbone said.

James had been set for trial next week after initially pleading not guilty in the case, but is instead now set for sentencing on Jan. 27.

He remains out on bond.

According to 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 on 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.

Dawson School is a private kindergarten through 12th-grade school in Lafayette.

The family of one of the students named as a victim in the case also filed a lawsuit against James and Dawson.

According to the lawsuit, James resigned from his previous teaching job in California after similar allegations arose, and discussed those allegations with other teachers in August 2020 at a faculty gathering while asking about Dawson's policies on sexual misconduct.