Former Pecatonica Area teacher was sentenced in the Lafayette County Circuit Court on Friday, February 27 to nine months probation for inappropriate comments and gestures made towards students.
Ricky Lane Hendrickson Jr., 28, plead no contest to one misdemeanor count of disorderly conduct on February 12. Two other charges of misdemeanor disorderly conduct counts were dismissed but read in.
According to the amended criminal complaint, during the 2023-2024 school year, Hendrickson made inappropriate comments toward students about sexual activity along with comments referring to a sexual act and inappropriately touched students without their permission.
Hendrickson was originally charged with a Class H felony charge of sexual assault of a student by school staff and three Class I felony counts of exposing a child to harmful descriptions. The Class H felony was dismissed by Lafayette County District Attorney Morgan Johanning during the plea hearing and the remaining three felonies downgraded to misdemeanors.
The joint sentencing agreement between District Attorney Johanning and Hendrickson’s attorneys Gibson D. Hatch and Darryl Watts Jr., was for court cost only, with no jail time and no probation.
For one victim and the victim’s mother, who spoke out at the sentencing, that punishment was not enough.
“You got off so easily. He wasn’t a stranger to us. We trusted him. He used that trust to assault us,” the victim said.
The victim said that Hendrickson tried to turn the community against the students who spoke out labeling them as “liars” with “bad grades” looking to retaliate against Hendrickson.
“He used the community to hurt our trust and defend his behavior,” the victim said.
The victim argued that Hendrickson should be on the sex offender registry because Hendrickson knew what he was doing when making the inappropriate comments and touching the students without their consent.
“They were not jokes to me,” the victim stated.
The victim also argued that Hendrickson should never be able to be a teacher nor work in the healthcare field. Hendrickson had been part of the volunteer EMS squad and was a registered nurse.
“We didn’t let your actions control our lives but what you did changed us. You think you got away with this. No matter where you go people will know who you are. You are not welcome anywhere now,” the victim said.
Johanning read through the amended criminal complaint addressing all of the facts that Hendrickson was being accused of and agreed with the victim that Hendrickson used his influence over the community to “sway them against the students’ information”. She said the community pushed off Hendrickson’s behavior as an “immature jokester” that “didn’t mean anything”. She said his behavior raised issues of being “grooming behavior” and he should be convicted but agreed with the joint recommendation of only court costs.
Attorney Hatch addressed the court stating Hendrickson’s life has been turned upside down by something that started with a lie. That lie then had other students coming forward with their information.
Hatch said it was the State who dismissed the felony count with prejudice and how that first allegation effected the other felony counts, which were downgraded to misdemeanors. Hendrickson has never had any other convictions so the recommendation was appropriate. Hatch said that Hendrickson has a lot of support around him.
Hendrickson then spoke to the court stating he accepts responsibility for his actions and his unacceptable language in the school. “Students deserve an environment that is safe and protected and I didn’t do that,” Hendrickson said.
He said that each of his roles as a healthcare worker and as a teacher are to be held to a higher ethical standard and what he did went against that. He apologized to his family and to the community. His said he will not be repeating his behavior.
Green County Circuit Court Judge Jane Bucher stated that she has never sentenced anyone to just court costs before. The first thing when sentencing is protection of the public. Probation is to be considered before any jail time and she didn’t see anything about probation or rehabilitation treatment addressed. She said that Hendrickson’s pattern of behavior was very poor judgment and poor impulse control.
“This type of behavior against teenagers is disrupting,” Bucher said, especially when teenagers are trying to figure out their own way in life.
She withheld sentencing and placed Hendrickson on probation for nine months. She understood that this sentencing wouldn’t “please anyone” but she is mandated to look at probation first. She ordered Hendrickson complete some programming for impulse control. She said this would ensure some protection of the public and she wanted to see a plan going forward to prevent these acts from happening again.
She ordered that he have no contact with the victims or witnesses and no contact with minors. Hatch argued the no contact with minors as Hendrickson is working toward getting employment as a nurse again and the no contact order would prevent that from happening. Bucher stated that the Department of Justice (DOJ) could impose a different no contact order but felt that they would be stricter in their ruling. The defense stated they would have the DOJ impose an appropriate no contact order.