Meghan Finnerty

The Republic | azcentral.com

A former Scottsdale teacher and track coach who in August pleaded guilty to sexual conduct with a student was sentenced Friday to 10 years in prison, a longer term than his plea agreement had suggested.

Christopher McKenna, 38, pleaded guilty to one count of sexual conduct with a minor and two counts of aggravated luring a minor for sexual exploitation. In the plea deal made a month ago, McKenna agreed to serve five years in prison, register as a sex offender and have no contact with the victim and pay the victim restitution.

In a sentencing hearing Friday, prosecutors argued for an eight-year term, and McKenna's attorney argued for five years. Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Chris Coury, however, had the final say on sentencing, and he ordered that McKenna serve a longer term.

Upon McKenna's release, Coury ordered him to register as a sex offender and spend time on probation.

In exchange for the three guilty pleas, the other 33 charges against McKenna in the case were dropped.

Members of McKenna's family, sitting behind him in the courtroom, gasped and began to cry when the longer sentence was announced.

​Coury said, “I’ve struggled with this. There is tragedy all around this courtroom.”

Coury recited a line from a letter he had received that said McKenna had a “hard and public fall from grace” and said he agreed. But the judge also said, “There is a need to protect our community from you."

“Kids under 18 are kids. You know that, Mr. McKenna; you’re a teacher,” Coury said. “You groomed her; you manipulated her.”

McKenna apologizes

During the hearing, McKenna addressed the court and asked to be permitted to apologize to the victim and the family.

McKenna turned to them, trembling and crying, and said there was not a minute he didn't think about what he had done. McKenna said his “feelings of regret and remorse are genuine.”

McKenna said he was an alcoholic, but said it was "too easy to blame” his alcoholism for his actions. He said, "No one and nothing is to blame but myself.”

Evidence in the case

McKenna was arrested in December after investigators discovered evidence indicating he had an ongoing sexual relationship with a then-17-year-old student.

After the initial arrest and his release from custody, McKenna continued to contact the victim. He bought them both disposable phones and met her in two different parking lots while wearing an ankle bracelet, Scottsdale police investigator Toni Moag said in statements to the court Friday.

Moag called McKenna a “sexual predator with no respect,” saying “he was still so obsessed with the victim.” Moag also said he was deceptive, saying that three days after meeting the victim in a parking lot, McKenna attended marriage counseling with his wife.

According to Moag, the relationship between the victim and McKenna lasted six to nine months, with weekly meet-ups to have sex. According to statements made to the court, the victim would skip class to meet McKenna. McKenna also had the victim meet him in his school office.

The girl was a student at another high school. She told authorities she had met McKenna at a track meet at Chaparral High School in April 2014, and the relationship began months later, according to court records. According to prosecutor Ryan Powell, McKenna was in a position of trust with the student because she had enrolled in one of his classes as a peer leader.

Investigators found on the victim's phone more than 2,000 text messages and photographs from exchanges between McKenna and the victim, court documents said. McKenna solicited explicit photos and exchanged them in return, police said.

Moag described the relationship as manipulating, stating that when the victim questioned the relationship, McKenna would respond, “I love you.”

In the texts, the victim called McKenna “Sir."

McKenna was placed on leave from Scottsdale Unified School District after his arrest. McKenna began teaching in the district in 2008. He taught physical education for special-needs children and coached the Chaparral High School girls' cross country and track and field teams.

He won the district's Teacher of the Year title in 2014.

Defense attorney Jason Lamm painted a picture to the court of a forest with only one rotting tree. Lamm encouraged the court to look at the forest of McKenna’s life from 30,000 feet above. Ultimately, Coury said as he sentenced McKenna, his action was not a single tree but a growing infection in a section in the forest.

Family, friends address court

Debra Weum, McKenna’s cousin, spoke to the court on behalf of the family. Weum told stories of McKenna’s character — of a man who helped a dog who was seizing, a man with a willingness to help the elderly and of being a person who lived a “life of love.” Weum told the court “he is profoundly regretful” and that he is getting help through Alcoholics Anonymous meetings and counseling.

McKenna’s lifelong friend Daniel Benson said McKenna was a person who was great to be around and “as thoughtful as they come.” McKenna’s brother Mathew echoed Benson and Weum, but first addressed the victims, saying his heart went out to them and their pain.

Matthew McKenna said the family was “united in his rehabilitation,” but noted that Christopher McKenna was “a man with personal demons,” including his dependence on alcohol.

Matthew McKenna concluded by speaking to the judge about the victim's family: “I hope they find a peace we all hope to find.”