WESTMINSTER – Two married school teachers were sentenced today for having an unlawful sexual relationship together and on their own with a 17-year-old male high school student.
Gay Davidson-Shepard, 60, Huntington Beach, pleaded guilty to a court offer Aug. 30, 2012, to three felony counts each of unlawful sexual intercourse, sodomy with a person under 18 years old, oral copulation of a minor, and one misdemeanor count each of contributing to the delinquency of a minor and violation of a protective order. She was sentenced to three years of formal probation with four years in jail stayed. Her husband Daniel Alma Shepard, 63, Huntington Beach, pleaded guilty to a court offer Aug. 30, 2012, to two felony counts of oral copulation of a minor, one felony count of sodomy with a person under 18 years old, and one misdemeanor count of contributing to the delinquency of a minor. He was sentenced to three years of formal probation with two years in jail stayed. Both defendants were ordered to complete counseling and 60 days of community service.
At the time of the crime, Gay Davidson-Shepard was a teacher at Mesa View Middle School in Huntington Beach and her husband Daniel Shepard was a teacher at Westminster High School in Westminster.
Daniel Shepard met John Doe while the victim was a student at Westminster High School. In March 2009, Daniel Shepard and Gay Davidson-Shepard groomed the 17-year-old victim by regularly inviting him to their Huntington Beach home to drink alcohol, eat, play board games, and watch movies.
In April 2009, the defendants sexually assaulted the victim for the first time. While John Doe was at their home, the defendants got into the Jacuzzi naked and encouraged the victim to do the same. After getting out of the hot tub, Gay Davidson-Shepard orally copulated both the victim and Daniel Shepard.
On a weekly basis beginning in April 2009, the defendants got John Doe intoxicated by providing him with alcohol and then engaged in illegal sex acts with the victim in their home including mutual masturbation, oral copulation, sexual intercourse, and sodomy. Daniel Shepard sexually assaulted John Doe until September 2009 and Gay Davidson-Shepard sexually assaulted John Doe until December 2009. The victim turned 18 years old in December 2009 and any sexual conduct with the defendant could not be criminally charged after that time.
At the sentencing today, the victim and his mother gave impact statements and described the devastation and destruction the defendants caused to John Doe and his family.
In March 2011, the victim disclosed the sexual assault to his mother. John Doe’s mother contacted the Westminster Police Department, who investigated the case and arrested the defendants on April 20, 2011.
On Nov. 28, 2011, while out of custody on bail for the sexual assault and subject to a protective order barring her from contacting John Doe, Gay Davidson-Shepard violated the protective order by calling and texting the victim numerous times.
Deputy District Attorney Nicole Varner of the Sexual Assault Unit prosecuted this case.
–Source: Orange County District Attorney’s Office
