Former teacher pleads no contest to felony child sex charges

Steven Bretsch after his March 7 arrest – Photo/RSW Regional Jail

FRONT ROYAL — Former Skyline High School teacher Steven Roger Bretsch escaped a lengthy jail term Monday when Warren County Circuit Judge Ronald L. Napier accepted a plea agreement in the case that netted the 33-year-old Haymarket man a six-year sentence with all but one month suspended. He was charged with having sex with two of his students.

Bretsch pleaded no contest to two counts of taking indecent liberties with a child by a person in a custodial or supervisory relationship between March and June of 2016. The sexual encounters reportedly occurred in a Skyline High School classroom, according to a criminal complaint.

According to a March 8 press release from the Warren County Sheriff’s Office, following interviews with the two students and school officials on March 7, 2017, Warren County and Prince William law enforcement searched Bretsch’s Haymarket home in Prince William County and then arrested him without incident. He was transferred from the Prince William County Adult Detention Center to the RSW Regional Jail.

Former Skyline High teacher and coach Steven Bretsch entered a plea agreement in Warren County Circuit Court Monday and was released from RSW Jail on Tuesday, after completing his sentence.

Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Bryan Layton said in an interview that the sentencing guidelines actually called for probation only, but the plea agreement was structured to include one month of incarceration. He also said that by accepting the plea agreement the two victims were spared from having to testify in the courtroom.

The agreement states that Bretsch must avoid all contact with his victims, and is required to register as a sex offender. The agreement further states that the former educator cannot be charged with any sexual misconduct from allegations involving these two victims from before March 2017, when Bretsch was arrested.

Bretsch was sentenced to a total of six years in jail, with all but one month suspended. He could have received up to 10 years combined for the two charges. He had been in custody at RSW Regional Jail since his June 29 hearing in Warren County Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court, and was given credit for time served. He was released from RSW Regional Jail on Tuesday, July 18, having completed his one-month incarceration. The former teacher must now complete three years of supervised probation.

Layton said that having a felony record and being a registered sex offender would have a “staggering and enormous impact” upon Bretch as he moves forward in life. He will never be able to teach again, nor will he likely be able to volunteer coach, as he did in northern Virginia, for a municipal soccer league.

Bretsch’s employment history indicates he was a teacher at Battlefield High School in Prince William County from 2007-14. No information on the reason for his departure from Battlefield High was available due to the privacy rules regarding personnel matters.

Bretsch served as a boys’ varsity soccer assistant coach at Battlefield; he also served in that capacity at Skyline High.