St. Albans, Vt. - A former St. Albans teacher accused of stealing hundreds of pounds of copper from his school, may have his cased dismissed.
Former physics teacher, Ian Smith, appeared in Franklin County Court, Monday. He received some legal council and potentially, a second chance.
"A chance to maintain a clean criminal record by participating in the Diversion Program," Franklin County State's Attorney James Hughes said.
That is because the 39-year-old is a first time defendant for what the State considers a minor crime. The Diversion Program allows defendants such as Smith to face a low penalty, like community service. If they complete the penalty, their criminal record is wiped clean.
Police say, Smith stole 125 pounds of copper wire from Bellows Free Academy back in February. Smith was teaching there at the time. Then, police say Smith sold the copper to a scrap yard for under $200.
Since then, Smith has been fired. And, some students wondered what happened to their beloved teacher.
"I mean, I know I don't know all the facts. But I just feel like the positives here outweigh the negatives," One student said at the announcement of Smith's firing in May.
Diversion may ensure Smith's privacy. But, it may also continue to keep his former students in the dark. That is because once a case is referred to diversion, it is no longer public information.
Smith would not tell us any details of his case but he did tell us this:
"Just want to get this behind me and move forward and, ya know, I don't have a lot going on at the moment," Smith said.
