WOOSTER – The former Northwestern High School teacher who pleaded no contest in June to eight counts of sexual battery related to an inappropriate relationship with a student was sentenced Friday to four and a half years in prison.

Rod Ferrell, 54, was taken from the courtroom in handcuffs to begin the sentence — imposed by Wayne County Common Pleas Judge Corey E. Spitler — which includes five years of supervision following his release from prison and a lifetime registration as a tier III sex offender.

He received 54 months in prison on each count, but will serve the sentence concurrently.

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First Assistant Prosecutor Angela Poth-Wypasek had asked the court for a 10-year sentence, citing Ferrell’s continual pursuit of the young woman, who graduated from Northwestern in the spring and has joined the military, even after a civil protection order was issued by her mother in October.

“We know the dates and times (of 17 sexual encounters) because they were planned,” Poth-Wypasek told the judge.

“The devastation he has brought (to the young woman’s family and to the young woman) will continue,” she said, quoting the former student’s mother as saying, “He did take all her firsts,” related to her senior year and events such as prom.

“He took them all for himself,” said Poth-Wypasek, adding, “He made her think they were going to be together,” yet, “It was never going to be.”

The young woman feels deceived and robbed, Poth-Wypasek said, and although military service is “a wonderful thing,” she joined as a means of running away and isolating herself from the community. “That was her out.”

Ferrell, appearing to choke up during his statement, said: “I can’t express enough the deep hurt and regret (I have about my actions). I apologize from the bottom of my heart.”

“My conduct was anything but professional,” he added.

Poth-Wypasek emphasized the devastation to Ferrell’s family and pointed out that at any point of several junctures, he could have made a different decision.

One of the crossroads she brought up was a Northwestern Local Schools District investigation in 2015 in which Ferrell was accused of standing too close to a student and causing discomfort. Although the district did not determine any wrongdoing on the part of Ferrell, he was warned to be careful about his actions.

Additionally, right up until he served a 100-day jail sentence received in December for violating the civil protection order, letters found in the young woman’s room showed he continued to contact her.

Acknowledging that Ferrell had previously led a law-abiding life and has been described as a good teacher, Poth-Wypasek said, “I stand here and scratch my head. Why weren’t the bells going off? He knows this was not right.”

Ferrell’s Akron-based attorney, Peter Cahoon, brought up, as did Poth-Wypasek, an independent psychosexual evaluation of Ferrell, determining he is at low risk of re-offending.

He also cited a letter from a mother of one of Ferrell’s students saying Ferrell had provided life-saving counseling and support to her son.

“I submit that is a part of Mr. Ferrell’s character,” Cahoon said.

He added that Ferrell has already faced consequences of his actions, including retirement from his job, loss of respect, separation from his two adult children who are not speaking to him and the pending end of his marriage.

“Mr. Ferrell has paid a lot so far for the things he did,” Cahoon said.

The mother of the young woman also made a statement to the judge and those attending the sentencing.

“You have no idea what you have done to my family,” the young woman’s mother said, addressing Ferrell.

“You’re supposed to be an advocate for children,” she said. “I sent her to school to be protected, not to be manipulated. This is what she’ll have to think of the rest of her life. It’s not fair. We all have to deal with this for the rest of our lives.”

Spitler noted the troubling aspects of so many components of the case, including the fact Ferrell had been told he made students uncomfortable during the 2015 school investigation, went on to commit even worse behavior and the age difference.

“That’s what shocks me here. Who’s the adult?” Spitler said.

lhall@the-daily-record.com

@lindahallTDR