Sex Offender, Former Teacher Gets 5 Years

A former Bartow High School math teacher was sentenced Friday to five years in prison for offering to give a 16-year-old student a better grade in exchange for oral sex.

In addition to prison, Polk County Judge Rob Griffin also ruled Isaac Tillis should be designated a sexual offender.
In June, a jury found Tillis, 30, guilty of attempting to commit unlawful sexual activity with a minor.
The Ledger is withholding the girl's name because she is a victim of a sexual crime.
The girl reported she went to Tillis on Dec. 18, 2007, to ask about doing extra credit work to raise her grade in his class. She accused Tillis of requesting that she perform oral sex on him.
Police were called, and they conducted a sting operation with the permission of the victim, school officials and the victim's family. The girl was fitted with a listening device and sent her back to Tillis to ask again whether there was anything she could do to raise her grade.
The jury listened to the recording of the girl and Tillis in the teachers' lounge. During the trial, the defense argued Tillis was entrapped by the girl and accused her of being the one who proposed having sex.
At Friday's sentencing hearing, Tillis offered a brief apology to the girl, her family, and his co-workers. Assistant State Attorney Mark Levine urged the judge to impose the maximum five-year prison sentence, saying Tillis exploited his position of trust and authority as a teacher.
"When parents send their kids to school, the last people that they should have to worry about are the adult teachers," he said. The girl's father testified his daughter continues to experience trouble sleeping and is worried when she is around male teachers. "She is just not the same," he said.