Former high school employee pleads guilty, awaits sentencing

MARIETTA - A former Pebblebrook High School staffer pleaded guilty Tuesday to raping and molesting a student at the Mableton school. <br> <br> Virgil ``Chip&#39;&#39; Spaur Jr., 41, faces a maximum prison sentence of 80 years after pleading guilty to two counts of aggravated child molestation and one count of statutory rape in Cobb County Superior Court. <br> <br> Spaur, of Marietta, was a technical director at the school&#39;s theater when he came in contact with the victim, then a 14-year-old sophomore. According to a warrant, Spaur had sex with the student between November 1996 and August 1997. <br> <br> Assistant District Attorney Eleanor Dixon, who prosecuted the case, said the relationship progressed from a kiss to fondling to sexual intercourse - before, during and after school, at the school and at his residence. <br> <br> The victim didn&#39;t tell anyone about the incidents until she finished high school, Dixon said. <br> <br> Spaur was fired from the school system in 1997 following accusations made by students of ``inappropriate touching,&#39;&#39; officials said. Cobb police originally arrested him in July 2000. <br> <br> Last year, Spaur was arrested in Billings, Mont., two weeks after he skipped town on the date of his trial. He had been out on bond. <br> <br> While on the run, he sent letters to the Cobb District Attorney, the victim&#39;s family and others claiming to have molested other victims, but those claims have not been substantiated, Dixon said. <br> <br> ``He knows he will be punished,&#39;&#39; said Marietta lawyer Vic Reynolds, who represents Spaur. ``With most people who are facing a prison sentence, he is remorseful, regretful.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> Spaur will be sentenced June 20.