Former Upper Arlington teacher accused of rape sentenced with no sex offender registration
UPPER ARLINGTON, Ohio (WCMH) – A former teacher and coach for the Upper Arlington accused of raping a student received his sentence in relation to a plea agreement on a lesser charge.
Joel Cutler was facing nine charges, including four counts of sexual battery, three counts of sexual conduct with a minor and two counts of rape. But in November 2023 prosecutors and Cutler’s defense team reached a plea deal earlier in 2023, which removed all of the above charges and swapped in a single felony count of child endangerment.
Under the new charge, Cutler would receive no more than six months of jail time, a $10,000 fine, 10,000 hours of community service and five years of community control. Because there were no longer sex offense charges against him, Cutler won’t have to register as a sex offender. But he did voluntarily surrender his teaching and coaching licenses, and resigned from the Upper Arlington school district.
On Friday, a Madison County Court of Common Pleas judge sentenced Cutler to three months in jail and serve five years of community control. Cutler will be able to work out a schedule so that he can both work and serve his term, saying that Cutler's family relies on his income.
The plea agreement drew ire from the victim, Essie Baird, who came forward publicly and asked the judge to reject it. In June 2022, the former Hastings Middle School student came forward and accused Joel Cutler of sexually assaulting her from 2000 to 2003, leading to the indictment.
Baird, who spoke with NBC4 in an exclusive interview on Nov. 16, said prosecutors never notified her of the plea deal being offered, a violation of Marsy’s Law. She called the child endangerment charge “baseless.” She previously wrote a letter to Judge Dan Hogan in opposition to the agreement after learning about it.
Prosecutors, who would not speak on camera with NBC4, said they analyzed the risk of going to trial alongside the strengths and weaknesses of the case, and believed the deal was a fair settlement.
Cutler was placed on leave from the Upper Arlington School District in 2021. He previously had been a high school football coach in the area, at Upper Arlington from 2014 to ’18 and at Bishop Ready from 2012 to ’13 as well as from 2019 to ’20.
After the hearing, Baird said she was very upset with the outcome of today’s outcome and that the process felt like a waste of her time. But she doesn’t regret coming forward and hopes other children do not have to go through the same experience.
“If a teacher is having these types of inappropriate relationships with you, you are being abused. I know you don’t understand it yet, but you will. Please pay attention to these stories, please talk to your parents. They will love you no matter what. You will be okay if you tell them what’s going on.”
Baird said she will continue to focus her energy on fighting for the rights of child victims and supporting House Bill 322, which would make acts of grooming a crime in Ohio.