× Thanks for reading! Log in to continue. Enjoy more articles by logging in or creating a free account. No credit card required. Log in Sign up {{featured_button_text}}

In a crowded courtroom Tuesday, a former Pound Middle School teacher and ex-Husker football player learned he would go to prison for the sexual relationship he denied having with a 15-year-old girl.

Despite his denials, Sean Applegate, 41, had pleaded no contest in the case.

“The short of it is, Mr. Applegate, you’ve been found guilty of attempted sexual assault and child abuse,” Lancaster County District Judge Andrew Jacobsen told him, before sentencing him to 15 to 20 years in prison.

Applegate at one point had been the girl’s teacher, and she saw him as something of a father figure, the judge said.

“You used that position of trust and took advantage of a 15-year-old girl,” Jacobsen said.

Minutes earlier, Applegate asked for probation, saying the whole process has been horrible for him and his family. People will believe what they want to believe, he said.

"Sometimes you don’t know why things happen, but you try to move on from them,” he said.

Applegate asked for an opportunity to see his 18-year-old son graduate from high school and 8-year-old son ride his bicycle again.