Former Teacher Sentenced to Three Life Terms for Sex Crimes

By Marc Freeman
Sun Sentinel
June 2, 2015

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/local/palm-beach/fl-palm-teacher-sex-crimes-trial-verdict-20150602-story.html

She had the courage two years ago to finally tell West Palm Beach police about the horror of being molested in class by her fourth-grade teacher.

She had the courage last week to testify in court about the abuses she and a classmate suffered as 9-year-olds under the desk of that teacher, Stephen Jerome Budd.

And Tuesday, she had the courage to talk about her pain — and positive outlook — minutes after a jury convicted Budd of five sex crimes, and just before the 53-year-old former Rosarian Academy educator was sentenced to three consecutive life terms in state prison.

So while the now-18-year-old victim has dealt with obsessive-compulsive and eating disorders because of her trauma, she also spoke of the positives in her life.

"I have realized the inner strength in me I never thought I had, the strength I wish I would have had in the fourth grade," the recent high school graduate told Palm Beach County Circuit Judge Karen Miller. "I now have the comfort of knowing I saved other potential victims of Mr. Budd."

"When I am up at night or unable to sleep or awoken by nightmares of him, these are the things I am able to think of," the young woman continued, as Budd, with his head down, sat nearby at a table with his attorney. "Mr. Budd no longer has control over me. I can now have control over myself and my future."

Budd did not testify during the just-concluded four-day trial, and the divorced father of three adult children didn't address the court before he was sentenced.

But defense attorney Jason Weiss said his client "maintains his innocence" and would appeal the guilty verdict reached after five hours of deliberations by the jury of four men and two women. During the trial, Weiss argued the accusers' claims were lies, simply "fanciful" allegations unsupported by physical evidence such as DNA.

Bruce Zimet, attorney for one of the victims, told reporters the women and their families were relieved the trial was over.

"These two young women are incredibly brave, with what they were subjected to at trial, in depositions, their credibility questioned, their integrity questioned, they stood strong," Zimet said. "Stephen Budd will never see the light of day to do this to any other children."

The Sun Sentinel is not identifying the victims due to the nature of the crimes and their ages.

Assistant State Attorneys Jessica Kahn and Takisha Richardson said Budd deserved the maximum punishment of the three consecutive life terms because of the repeated abuse against the girls by "a teacher who is in a position of trust."

Breaking down the charges, there were: two counts of sexual battery on a person less than 12 years of age, one count of lewd or lascivious molestation, and two counts of lewd or lascivious exhibition.

The prosecutors said Budd used a popular classroom reward system called "Budd Bucks" or candy to reward his student victims for the sexual acts under the teacher's desk at the Catholic school during the 2006-07 school year.

Much of the case centered around the rather graphic testimony of the former fourth-grade students, and two hours of phone calls in April 2013 between the defendant and his then-16-year-old accusers. Those calls were secretly recorded by police in the days and minutes before Budd's arrest.

Until then he had no prior criminal history, and had been working with adult students at South Tech Academy in Boynton Beach.

During their deliberations, the jurors twice asked to listen to a call between Budd and the first accuser.

The young woman repeatedly confronted Budd with accusations that he molested her and showed his penis to the girls on many occasions. She told him over the phone she had incriminating evidence, a sock with his semen on it, in an attempt to get him to confess.

"I'm not sure of what you're talking about," Budd said, later adding, "I'm sorry you guys feel that way."

"You made us do a lot of things that we remember," the accuser, then a 10th-grader, told Budd, asking for an apology. "We watched you masturbate, we're not stupid."

Over and over, Budd said he didn't recall any of it, noting, "Something like that would be memorable."

"I can't admit to something I didn't do," he said on the call.

In court, the young woman testified the sexual abuse was "a regular part of our school day," which later prompted Budd's attorney to quip, "When did he find time to teach?"

To strengthen their case, prosecutors called as a witness a former fourth-grade classmate of the accusers. She testified the girls told her back then that Budd had unzipped his pants and exposed himself while they sat under his desk.

Jurors also heard testimony from another accuser, now 22. She said Budd molested her one day 15 years ago when she was a second-grade student at St. Francis of Assisi Catholic School in Riviera Beach.

The woman said Budd touched her private parts while she sat on his lap in her classroom while the other students were watching an animated movie. She said she decided to approach police after reading about Budd's arrest concerning the other girls. She testified she was too young to realize at the time what had happened.

While Budd was not charged over those allegations because a statute of limitations for filing charges had expired, prosecutors said it helped to corroborate the case presented at the trial.

The defense said none of the claims was supported by scientific evidence or testimony from other teachers or school administrators. That left a "case built on quicksand," Weiss said, asking the jurors to set Budd free, because "teenagers lie for a million reasons, and sometimes for no reasons at all."

Kahn, the prosecutor, argued Budd was "brazen enough" to molest the students in class, and too much time had passed to find DNA on classroom furniture, and the accuser's sock with Budd's semen had been discarded.

"It had gone undetected for so long," Kahn told reporters after Budd's sentencing. "Maybe he thought he had everybody fooled."

Contact: mjfreeman@tribpub.com,