A former Delaware middle school teacher was sentenced to seven years in prison for sexually assaulting his student while they visited Atlantic City in 2016.
Thomas Herlihy, now 37, began the relationship with the teenager just after she completed eighth grade at a middle school in the Brandywine School District in New Castle County, where he was her teacher, according to the affidavit.
During a trip to Atlantic City from June 29 to July 1, 2016, the two had sex for the first time. The relationship continued when the two returned home, according to the affidavit.
It wasn’t until June 2019 that Delaware State Police were made aware of the relationship. The girl’s then-boyfriend found sexually explicit text messages on her phone, including a photo of male genitalia, the affidavit states.
The boy’s parents alerted the Brandywine School District, which sparked the State Police investigation.
The girl told investigators that during the trip to Atlantic City, she and Herlihy had dinner at the Gordon Ramsay Bar and Grill in Atlantic City, drank alcohol, and then got a hotel room, where they had sex.
Herlihy pleaded guilty in August to aggravated sexual assault to a female younger than 16.
His Avenel report, which is required before sentencing of all sex offenders, found he is considered repetitive and compulsive.
Herlihy originally said he was not amenable to treatment, but has since changed his view, Superior Court Judge Dorothy Garrabrant said.
He must serve at least 85 percent of his sentence, which runs concurrent to his sentence in Delaware, the judge said.
Herlihy will have five years of probation upon his released. Additionally, he must register as a Megan’s Law offender with lifetime supervision.
“With this sentence, the court cannot mend in any way the pain that’s occurred to all of the families involved, most notably the victim’s,” the judge said. “The court can only provide closure today and, hopefully, the beginning of healing for everyone.”
Herlihy will serve his sentence at the Avenel Diagnostic Treatment Center for sex offenders.
