Vernal teacher sent to prison for sex abuse of student

VERNAL — A veteran Vernal Junior High School teacher was sentenced to up to life in prison Wednesday for a relationship he had with a 14-year-old student.

Norman Ray Bernard, 58, was sentenced to three years to life in prison on an attempted aggravated sex abuse of a child charge and five years to life on a forcible sodomy charge. Both are first-degree felonies. Eighth District Judge A. Lynn Payne ordered that the sentences be served concurrently.

The charges are all related to Bernard's sexual abuse of the same victim or his use of text messaging to communicate with her. Uintah County prosecutors dismissed 13 other felony charges in exchange for Bernard's guilty plea.

Police interviewed a 14-year-old girl who said she and Bernard began "an intimate relationship" in October that involved meeting numerous times in the school theater and kissing, according to the charges.

During at least two of those encounters, Bernard fondled the girl and once performed a sex act, the charges state. Investigators said the girl also told them that during the Christmas break she and Bernard communicated by text message at least four times while they were both bathing at their separate homes.

Bernard, who was an educator for 23 years, taught social studies and drama at Vernal Junior High.

— Emiley Morgan