Posted on Thu, Aug. 28, 2008
By Joseph A. Slobodzian
A former special-education teacher at South Philadelphia High School - who admitted launching a weeklong sexual relationship with a 14-year-old girl on the Internet's MySpace social networking site - was sentenced yesterday to 10 to 20 years in prison.
Joshua Uhrich, 30, apologized to the girl and her family, telling Common Pleas Court Judge Leon W. Tucker, "I have accepted, recognized and acknowledged that my bad choices have caused a lot of grief and inconvenience to individuals and institutions."
Under the sentence negotiated with the plea deal between the prosecutor and defense attorney, Uhrich must serve Pennsylvania's mandatory minimum 10-year prison term before he may apply for parole.
Tucker ordered Uhrich to continue sex-offender therapy while in prison and when he is released on parole.
Uhrich, of Allentown, was taken into custody immediately after the brief hearing at the Criminal Justice Center in Center City.
Though it was Uhrich's first offense of any kind, he fell under a law enacted two years ago that increased the mandatory minimum sentence from five to 10 years for an adult who sexually assaults or is involved with someone age 16 or under. The law increased the mandatory minimum for a second offense to 25 years and to life for the third offense.
The judge noted that a presentence analysis determined Uhrich was not a "sexually violent predator." That means that when Uhrich is released, he will register as a sex offender under the state's Megan's Law, but will not have to attend lifelong sex-offender treatment, and authorities will not have to notify neighbors and school officials where he lives.
Uhrich was arrested in February, two weeks after the mother of the 14-year-old South Philadelphia High School student went to police. On Jan. 21, when the girl returned from a weekend in Allentown with Uhrich, she was confronted by her mother and admitted the relationship.
Uhrich pleaded guilty May 7 to charges of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse with a person under age 16, unlawful contact with a minor, interfering with the custody of a child, and corrupting the morals of a minor.
Charges of sexual assault and indecent assault were dropped as part of the guilty plea. Assistant District Attorney Eileen Hurley said that the sexual relationship was consensual and that the girl and Uhrich knew each other's age.
Neither the victim nor her mother was in court, and neither was identified. Hurley read a victim-impact letter from the mother in which she decried Uhrich's betrayal of his position of authority as an educator and adult.
The mother's letter added that the girl is now undergoing biweekly psychiatric treatment, is a truant, and engages in "habitual destructive behavior."
Hurley said Uhrich admitted contacting the girl on Jan. 11 through her MySpace page, writing that he recognized her from her photo as a high school student, although she was not in any of his classes.
The two agreed to meet the next day at a South Broad Street doughnut shop, and Uhrich then took the girl to his Allentown apartment for the weekend, Hurley said.
Through the next week, Hurley said, the girl and Uhrich met after school and had sex in his car and elsewhere. The following Saturday, Hurley said, Uhrich picked up the girl and returned to his apartment for sex and to watch a pornographic movie.
Hurley said that after Uhrich dropped off the girl at her home on Monday, she was confronted by her mother, her sister and a friend, who had been trying to contact her over the weekend. The girl told her mother about the relationship with Uhrich.
Contact staff writer Joseph A. Slobodzian at 215-854-2985 or jslobodzian@phillynews.com.
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