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A former Lee-Davis High School assistant principal pleaded guilty Monday to four counts of indecent liberties with a minor by a custodian for having repeated sex with a 16-year-old student.

A year after Michael Carr Teegarden, 52, became assistant principal at Lee-Davis in 1998, he began to show a liking for a 15-year-old sophomore, according to the prosecutor in the case, who said Teegarden began to spend time with her and even hired her as a baby sitter.

“Initially, it was platonic. He was just paying a lot of attention to her,” said Hanover County Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Bob Wood, who noted that by the girl’s junior year, when she was 16, Teegarden was having sex with her about once or twice a week.

He was sentenced Monday to 20 years in prison, with all but a year and a half suspended. Teegarden, who is currently incarcerated for child pornography convictions, will have to serve the additional year-and-a-half sentence immediately after his current active sentence of four years.

During his time as assistant principal, fellow Lee-Davis employees grew suspicious of Teegarden spending so much time with the girl, though investigators found no evidence that administrators knew their relationship was sexual, Wood said.