Teacher, husband to be arraigned in underage boy case

A Mesa View Middle School teacher and former Westminster High School teacher charged with having a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old boy are set to be arraigned Thursday.

The arraignment is scheduled for 8:30 a.m. in courtroom W14 at the West Justice Center in Westminster.

Daniel Shepard and his wife, Gay Davidson-Shepard, were arrested in April and charged with multiple felony counts, including oral copulation of a minor, sodomy of a person younger than 18 and contributing to the delinquency of a minor. Shepard was also charged with possession and control of child pornography.

Shepard, who taught at Westminster High when the incidents allegedly took place, faces a maximum sentence of five years in state prison, Davidson-Shepard a maximum of eight years and four months.

The couple is accused of inviting a Westminster High student to their home and getting him drunk before engaging in sexual acts.

Davidson-Shepard was placed on leave from Mesa View after the arrest.

—Michael Miller