Teacher gets max for groping students

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SAN ANTONIO, Feb. 5 (UPI) -- A Texas Catholic school teacher will serve the next 20 years in prison for sexually abusing young girls in his classroom, prosecutors said.

Arturo Flores, 56, was a computer teacher at St. John Berchmans Catholic School in San Antonio. Several students, some as young as second- and third-graders, came forward and said he groped them in class.

Jurors took just 30 minutes to deliberate before announcing his conviction. Flores' defense attorney, Abel Dominguez Sr., pleaded with jurors to return a sentence of probation, the San Antonio Express-News said Tuesday.

"Mr. Flores, despite all the testimony that you heard, is still a good man," Dominguez said. "He's been a teacher. He's been a mentor. He's been a dad. He's not a monster."

Jurors weren't buying it and returned the maximum sentence on each of the three counts of indecency with a child. Prosecutors were rebuffed when they asked state District Judge Raymond Angelini to enforce the charges consecutively, but Angelini ruled they should be served concurrently.