Former coach gets prison for sex with student

FILLMORE — Keith Lorraine Gillins' fall from what his attorney called "the top of the food chain" ended Wednesday when he was sentenced to prison for having sex with one of his high-school students.

Defense attorney James Slavens noted that Gillins had served 12 years as Fillmore's mayor in the '80s and '90s, was a well-respected veteran educator, a state champion basketball coach and held local leadership positions in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

All of that is gone now, Slavens told 4th District Judge Donald J. Eyre during a sometimes emotional 21/2-hour sentencing hearing held in a packed courtroom.

"That part of his life is completely over. That's a punishment he's received," Slavens said, arguing for a one-year jail term and probation.

"The sad thing about this case is that it's created enemies among friends," the attorney added.

Slavens implored the judge not to sentence Gillins, 61, based on "rumors, hysteria and prejudicial things" in the community.

What's not a rumor is that Gillins pleaded guilty in August to charges in Millard and Juab counties stemming from his sexual abuse of a now 18-year-old woman.

In Millard County, Gillins pleaded guilty to one count of attempted rape, a first-degree felony, and two counts of forcible sexual abuse, both second-degree felonies. In Juab County, he entered guilty pleas to one count of attempted rape and another of attempted forcible sodomy, both first-degree felonies.

Gillins had originally faced a total of 18 felony charges in the two counties.

According to Millard County sheriff's investigators, Gillins obtained the victim's cell-phone number in 2007 when she was 16 and began sending her text messages. At first, those messages offered encouragement and advice, authorities say, but over the course of several months, they took on a sexual tenor.

When she was 17, Gillins recruited the girl to be his teaching assistant, giving him "daily access" to her, detectives said. Eventually, he had sex with the girl on at least three occasions in his classroom and once at a motel in Nephi.

Prosecutors said Gillins used his sway over the victim to isolate her from her parents, family and friends, allowing him to more easily abuse the girl.

"She thought he was there to help her, to look out for her," said Juab County Attorney Jared Eldridge. "He knew her strengths, and more importantly, he knew her weaknesses.

"It came to the point where the victim trusted Mr. Gillins more than anyone else in the world," Eldridge said, calling the abuse of trust "heinous" and "reprehensible."