Sex offender’s probation reinstated
NEW ROADS — A state district judge reinstated the full-five year probation imposed on a former schoolteacher convicted of communicating improperly with an underage girl, court records show.
Former Livonia High School teacher Antonio Rene Garcia, 36, was in 18th Judicial District Court on Jan. 6 to cancel the balance of his probationary sentence imposed after he pleaded guilty in 2009 to a charge of indecent behavior with a juvenile.
Probation officer Charles Brouillette testified during the hearing that Garcia had taken responsibility for his crime, undergone counseling and completed “every general aspect of his probation,” according to a court transcript.
Brouillette agreed with defense attorney David Marquette that Garcia had “changed his life.”
The probation officer also testified he had spoken to the victim’s father, who said although he was opposed to any leniency for Garcia, his daughter wouldn’t object to removing Garcia from probation two years early.
District Judge James Best removed the balance of Garcia’s probation at the end of the hearing, records show.
But the director of the criminal division for the state Attorney General’s Office, Kurt Wall, whose office prosecuted the case against Garcia, said his agency had not been informed of the hearing.
Official notification of the hearing sought by Brouillette inadvertently was sent to 18th Judicial District Attorney Ricky Ward’s office instead of the Attorney General’s Office.
“When we found out, we filed a motion requesting the judge set aside the ruling and schedule a new hearing, which he immediately did,” Wall said Tuesday.
The hearing, scheduled for Tuesday, was canceled after Garcia withdrew his probation termination request Monday, court records show.
The judge reinstated Garcia’s probation the same day.
Wall said Garcia would complete the full term of the five-year probationary period as spelled out in the original plea agreement.
Garcia surrendered to the Livonia Police Department in January 2009 after the victim’s parent notified authorities about possible improper conduct between the former math teacher and a 16-year-old student.
Authorities found pornographic images of a minor on Garcia’s laptop and records indicating he had sent the girl “inappropriate” text messages during a period of several weeks.
Garcia was sentenced to seven years in prison, but given credit for about six months that he spent in jail following his arrest.
He also was ordered to register as a sex offender, stay away from the victim, undergo psychiatric counseling and serve five years of probation, records show.