An Oakdale substitute teacher, arrested in 2013, was sentenced on Monday, Oct. 17, to 180 days in jail by a Stanislaus County Superior Court judge.
Bryan Dauvergne Thies, 51, of Modesto pleaded no contest to two misdemeanor counts of annoying and molesting a child in August to avoid a trial. As part of the plea, two counts of felony lewd and lascivious acts with a child under the age of 14 were dropped.
As part of his sentence, Thies will be on probation for the next five years and will have to register with authorities as a sex offender for the rest of his life. Superior Court Judge Dawna Reeves also ordered Thies to stay away from the two victims.
Thies was arrested on Sept. 23, 2013 after a two-week long investigation by the Oakdale Police Department after Cloverland school staff reported that Thies inappropriately touched five girls, ages 10 and 11, at the school. Original reports show that the incident occurred during class on Aug. 29, 2013, when Thies was at the school as a substitute teacher.
At the time of his arrest, Oakdale Joint Unified School District officials confirmed Thies was a “standard” substitute teacher for grades kindergarten through 12 and stated that he was no longer employed with the district and had been let go when the allegations surfaced.
A “no contest” plea carries the same penalty and has the same legal effect as pleading guilty without actually admitting any guilt.
Thies is scheduled to surrender himself at the Stanislaus County Jail in January 2017 to serve his sentence. Thies can apply to the sheriff’s alternative work program to avoid spending time in custody. Stanislaus sheriff’s officials make the determination if he will be admitted to the program.
The California Commission of Teacher Credentialing shows that Thies’s teaching credentials were suspended right after his arrest. There is also a disciplinary action against Thies in 2008 from an incident in Merced for “immoral or unprofessional conduct” which resulted in the commission briefly suspending his teaching credential.
