LAKE MARY, Fla. – A former Lake Mary High School teacher who pleaded guilty to sex battery charges stemming from an incident with a student was sentenced on Monday to more than 27 years in prison.
Richard Colon was arrested in October 2024 after the principal received a tip about Colon and another student.
According to an arrest report, Colon had been having “sexual conversations” via text messages with a student from July 2024 to September 2024.
Investigators say it escalated at Colon’s Sorrento home and inside his classroom during school hours.
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Before he was sentenced, Colon read his own statement to the court where he said he made the “biggest mistake” of his life.
“I was selfish,” Colon said. “I can never apologize enough, and I’m really sorry.”
Colon said he was “sorry” for his actions and sorry for “giving in.” His defense attorney, Andrew Moses, asked the court for grace.
“His error destroyed his reputation, his career, his family,” Moses said. “But I am going to say, by all accounts, this was a mutual relationship, obviously ill-advised and illegal, but there was nothing coercive or forced about it.”
During Monday’s sentencing hearing, evidence was presented by investigators that the abuse began in 2024 with sexually charged Snapchat messages and escalated at Colon’s home in Sorrento and inside his classroom during school hours.
“There wasn’t a day, there wasn’t a text between the two of them for years,” attorney Mark O’Mara said. “He started when she was 15 with the grooming.”
O’Mara said Colon was initially offered 15 years in prison, followed by a lengthy probation, which he declined.
Judge Michael Rudisill said he “gambled.”
“He gambled he could have sexual relations with a 17-year-old student and get away with it,” Rudisill said. “He did not take the State’s offer and gambled on a downward departure and he lost.”
The judge also said he did would not classify Colon’s behavior as a “mistake.”
“This was not a one-time thing. This was not a mistake,” Rudisill said. “This developed over a lengthy period of time. There were numerous secret meetings, numerous secret chats. Numerous steps were taken to try to keep this a secret.” He continued. “This is fundamental to his role as being a teacher. You do not have sexual relations with the students. They are off limits. He knew that. He knew what he was doing was wrong. He knew that it would end his career and destroy his reputation. He knew it would devastate his family, and he knew it would ultimately cost him his freedom if he was caught. And each time he decided it was worth the risk.”
He was sentenced to 326.1 months in prison and will be designated as a sexual predator.
He pleaded guilty last year to three counts of sex battery by a person in authority along with child porn and solicitation charges. He faced life in prison.
Colon was a teacher at the school and also served as an assistant girls soccer coach at the school.