Ex-Conroe ISD officer convicted of sex with student

A former Conroe ISD police sergeant has been convicted by a jury of having sexual contact with a student in 2012 and early last year, a Montgomery County prosecutor said Friday.

Christopher Lee Sutton was awaiting sentencing Friday afternoon. He faced up to 20 years in prison and a $10,000 fine, according to Assistant District Attorney Phil Grant.

Sutton and another man — Brian Joseph Ortiz, an athletic referee for the University Interscholastic League — were arrested in February 2013 on charges of sexual contact with the male student.

Sutton, who was 37 at the time of his arrest last year, was accused of engaging in five sexual contacts with the student between August 2012 and February 2013, according to prosecutors. Ortiz was charged with one sexual contact, in February 2013. Grant said Ortiz's trial is pending.

Prosecutors had said the relationship between Sutton and the student started through social media.