Former Sunland Park Teacher Takes Plea Deal

LAS CRUCES, N.M. (AP) – A man accused of soliciting a child online while he was a Sunland Park Elementary School teacher has accepted a plea deal in the case.

Dominic Ebert of Santa Teresa pleaded guilty Monday to a fourth-degree felony charge of child solicitation by computer. The Las Cruces Sun-News reports a sentencing date has not been set by state District Judge Doug Driggers.

Authorities say Ebert, in a series of e-mail exchanges, asked a state attorney general’s agent posing as a 12-year-old girl to perform a sex act. District Attorney James Dickens says investigators found the computer used to contact the undercover agent in Ebert’s classroom.

Ebert, 38, was arrested last April 1, and his contract with the Gadsden public school district was not renewed when it expired the following month.

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)