A Florida teacher guilty of having sex with a 16-year-old student in a classroom closet will serve three years in prison, according to reports.
Daniel Norment, 41, accepted two “best interest” guilty pleas for one count of unlawful sex with a minor and one count of offense against a student by an authority figure in exchange for the term.
The arrangement allows Norment to avoid formally admitting guilt, while accepting that the pleas are in his best interest, according to the Palm Beach Post.
Norment taught at Independence Middle School in Jupiter from 2016 until his arrest in May of 2022.
The closet incident occurred two years ago, and the female victim alerted authorities in March of this year.
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The victim, now an 18-year-old college student, said Norment groomed her while she was still attending middle school and that she returned to the middle school to visit him after moving on to high school.
According to the Palm Beach Post, Norment exchanged cell phone numbers with the girl when she left for high school.
Knowing she needed community service hours to graduate, Norment invited her back to Independence Middle to spend time alone in his classroom, after school hours, to clean and help with paperwork, the lawsuit says.
“Norment’s actions toward Jane Doe reflect a textbook case of ‘grooming,’ a tactic employed by pedophiles to cultivate an inappropriate relationship with a minor so that the pedophile can manipulate, exploit, and abuse the minor,” it states.
In September 2019, Norment took the former student, then 16 years old, into a classroom closet, where he “sexually assaulted her,” according to the lawsuit.
According to reports, a week after the 2019 assault, administrators at the girl’s high school called her into an office and asked if anything happened between her and the teacher. The victim denied anything took place.
“The very fact that the Assistant Principal requested the meeting — and then instructed Jane Doe to have no further contact with Norment even after she denied the sexual allegations — shows that the School Board knew of the improper relationship Norment had cultivated with Jane Doe on School Board property over multiple years,” the lawsuit states.
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The victim waited about two and a half years to file a report with authorities, according to the PBP.
The female victim filed a civil suit against the Palm Beach County District last month, asserting administrators “enabled” prior history of predatory behavior with female students.
The woman’s suit also alleges Norment was previously removed as girl’s basketball coach after administrators learned he was allowing players to change in his classroom.
As part of the sentence, Norment has agreed not to have contact with minors, enter a sex offender treatment program, and not work at or with schools after his prison term ends.
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