By Shereen Siewert

PORTAGE COUNTY – Sentencing has been set for a 41-year-old special education teacher who was convicted this month of assaulting a 15-year-old teen he was mentoring.

Jo Leung Pang resigned from his position as special education teacher at P.J. Jacobs Junior High School in Stevens Point after being placed on administrative leave in January.

Police say the sexual assaults did not happen on school property. But the victim is a youth that was assigned to Pang by the Portage Co. Health and Human Services Dept. for mentoring, prosecutors said.

During a Nov. 18 plea hearing, Pang was convicted of second-degree sexual assault of a child. Charges of repeated sexual assault of the same child were dismissed as part of a plea agreement. As part of the plea agreement, prosecutors agreed to cap their sentencing request to four years in prison followed by 10 years extended supervision.

Portage County Circuit Judge Robert Shannon will rely in part on a presentencing investigation when he passes sentence Feb. 2.

Pang remains free on a $15,000 cash bond.

Story used courtesy of Wausau Pilot & Review