Former Middlesex High School (MHS) Resource Officer Clayton Michael Colley was sentenced on Nov. 1, having pleaded guilty to a felony of taking indecent liberties with a child by a person in a custodial or supervisory relationship; and a misdemeanor stalking charge.
Middlesex County Circuit Court Judge Jeffrey Shaw sentenced Colley to five years incarceration and suspended five years of the sentence on the indecent liberties conviction. For the misdemeanor conviction, Judge Shaw sentenced Colley to 12 months incarceration and suspended 10 months of the sentence. Colley will serve two months in jail.
Conditions
Judge Shaw placed several conditions on Colley’s sentence. According to court documents, Colley must be on good behavior for 10 years from the sentencing date. Colley must undergo a sex offender evaluation and successfully complete any sex offender treatment as directed by the probation officer. He must register with the Virginia Department of State Police for inclusion in the Sex Offender and Crime Against Minors Registry.
He is to have no contact with the victim and pay court costs.
He will be on supervised probation for five years and remain drug and alcohol free and submit to random drug tests. He agrees to release medical records while on probation as necessary.
He must undergo substance-abuse screening and assessment.
Colley is forever prohibited from loitering within 100 feet of a primary, secondary or high school; or a playground, athletic field, or gymnasium for the purpose of having any contact whatsoever with children that are not in his custody.
Colley is prohibited from entering or being present during school hours and during school or school-sponsored activities at any school or child daycare property, school bus or on public or private property during hours when such property is solely being used by a public or private elementary or secondary school for a school related activity.
He agrees to provide DNA and fingerprints. Work release is authorized if the defendant is eligible as determined by the sheriff or administrator of the regional jail.
Guilty plea
On Aug. 21, Colley pleaded guilty in Middlesex Circuit Court. The indecent liberties conviction stems from an Oct. 12, 2021 incident, and the stalking began Aug. 25, 2021, according to court documents.
During the Aug. 21 court proceeding, Middlesex Commonwealth’s Attorney Michael Hurd presented facts that would have been part of his prosecution had the case gone to trial.
While Colley, 32, was the Middlesex High School resource officer, whose job it was to provide school security, he developed a relationship with a 16-year-old girl.
They were Snapchat friends and he asked her for nude photos, which she did not provide, said Hurd adding, Colley also made inappropriate comments to her of a sexual nature.
The victim also asked Colley to let her inside the school after a football game to retrieve something. He declined to let her in and she got someone else to let her in, said Hurd, adding Colley then waited for her inside in a room. When she tried to get away from him, he tried to stop her from leaving. This was one of the stalking incidents.
On a different occasion Colley “grabbed” the victim’s buttocks during an after-school event, said Hurd, who gave the court a copy of a security video that shows Colley’s hand reaching towards her just before they moved into a small alcove where there was no security camera. This was the indecent liberties charge. Another video, said Hurd, showed the distress on the victim’s face and how upset she was immediately after she was grabbed.
In a Snapchat post after this incident, Colley asked the victim, “Are we good?”
The victim secretly recorded a conversation with Colley admitting he had apologized, said Hurd.
The victim reported the incident to the teacher who was the class sponsor, said Hurd.
Stalking
Colley told the victim he had gone by her place of employment and by the beach where she had been, Hurd said, adding there were more than three incidents of stalking.
Colley’s defense attorney offered no objections to the facts presented by Hurd during the Aug. 21 court proceeding.
Sentencing
Judge Shaw had ordered a pre-sentencing report. During the Nov. 1 proceeding, the victim’s mother testified how her daughter had been affected by the crimes. Her daughter had headaches, her grades dropped and she couldn’t focus.
“I couldn’t protect her,” said the mother adding she expects a child to be safe in school. “It’s stress you can’t get away from.”
The victim testified she had “panic attacks.”
She missed classes to attend therapy for 18 months, eventually dropping the class.
She had hoped to attend a major college, but with slipping grades she lost her chances for scholarships.
“Two years of my life have been ruined,” she said. “There’s no escaping this.”
Defense
Colley’s defense attorney Anna Lindemann of Richmond did not question the victim or victim’s mother.
Lindemann submitted letters referring to the character of Colley.
Lindemann called licensed clinical psychologist Dr. Michelle Sjolinder as an expert witness. She had prepared a report of a psychological sexual evaluation of Colley.
She testified that Colley admitted “he had crossed the line” and did not try to “minimize” his behavior.
She said Colley scored favorably when evaluated according to psychological criteria that predicts chances of future crimes of the same type; and he is “below average risk” to be a repeat offender.
She said he had pursued training for a new job.
Prosecution arguments
During closing arguments, Hurd said, “What you have is a huge betrayal of trust,” noting that Colley was a uniformed law enforcement officer when these crimes occurred. “This is about power and control and use of his office [authority].”
Hurd said Colley was “laying in wait” in a dark classroom where there were no cameras and confronted the victim when she went there after a football game and tried to stop her from leaving. “He knew where the cameras were.”
Defense argument
Lindemann, Colley’s defense attorney, said Colley had “a lapse in judgment.”
Lindemann also said he was remorseful and pleaded guilty, with no agreement about sentencing, so the victim would not have to endure a trial.
She asked the court for a suspended sentence. “He will pay for this for the rest of his life.”
Apology
Before sentencing Colley was asked if he had anything to say and he apologized “for everything that has happened.”
Dismissed
Colley had been a Middlesex deputy for seven years. As soon as the complaint was received, the Middlesex County Sheriff’s Office (MCSO) removed Colley from the school and his employment at the sheriff’s office was terminated the next day, said Maj. M.E. Sampson, of the MCSO.
At the request of the MCSO, the Virginia State Police conducted the investigation.
