A former Dayton High School girls basketball coach will not got to prison for having sex with one of his students, a judge decided Monday.
Judge David Huff sentenced Desi Navarro, 27, to five years' probation -- following the recommendation of the victim and her mother in the parole and probation report.
Navarro was ordered to pay a $1,000 fine.
However, District Attorney Leon Aberasturi argued Navarro should serve at least one year behind bars.
"We have to deter teachers from this conduct," Aberasturi said. "Probation doesn't deter teachers from repeating this crime. We have the right to expect our institutions will take care of our children."
As part of an agreement during a hearing in Lyon County District Court in Yerington, Navarro pleaded guilty in September to one count of having sex with a student.
He faced up to five years in prison and $10,000 in fines.
The District Attorney's Office dropped two additional counts of a school employee having sex with a student, in exchange for Navarro's guilty plea.
Navarro was accused of having sex with a 16-year-old member of his varsity team on at least three occasions from October 2001 to February 2002 -- once in the girl's bedroom and twice in a car -- as part a complaint filed in Dayton Justice Court on June 13.
A law passed in 1998 makes it a felony for any adult employed by a school district to have sex with a student, even though the legal age of consent in Nevada is 16.
Aberasturi said he was disappointed with the light sentence, but could see the reasoning behind it.
"It was a difficult case for the court because everything pointed toward giving him probation. He had absolutely no prior record," he said. "The victim and her mother called for probation. I even had to admit that he did cooperate with police."
Navarro's wife, who attended the hearing with the couple's newborn son, testified on his behalf. Her parents and his parents also attended.
Despite the outcome, Aberasturi said he wants school employees to understand the gravity of the crime.
"Teachers need to get the message that it's not a meat market," he said. "They have no business having any sort of a relationship with their students, other than that of teacher or coach."
Navarro was not taken into custody. He remains free on $5,000 bail.
A Carson City native, Navarro was crowned homecoming king of Carson High School in 1994.
