ZBlogN

A former Hall County band director is headed to prison after pleading guilty to sexually assaulting a student when she was 16, authorities said.

Daniel Berry Merck, now 52, was sentenced Friday to 20 years, with four to serve behind bars and the remainder on probation, Hall County District Attorney Lee Darragh confirmed.

The former Chestatee High School band teacher was highly regarded in the community and even had a street sign named for him outside the school, prosecutors said. He had worked there since 1999 as a music teacher and band director, the Hall County School District previously told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Merck was arrested in October 2019 after authorities learned he and the teenage student had sexual contact over a period of several months.

The Hall County Sheriff’s Office launched an investigation Oct. 2, 2019, after being contacted by the school district in reference to a sexual relationship Merck had with the student in 2016, authorities said. The band teacher was suspended that evening and arrested the following day. The teacher also had a sexually explicit photograph of the girl, investigators said at the time of his arrest.

He pleaded guilty last week to sexual assault of a student and sexual exploitation of children, authorities said. During his sentencing hearing, Merck told the court the past two years of his life have been a “total disaster,” and that he deserved his punishment.

“My whole world has been turned upside down,” he said, according to prosecutors. “I lost my job, my career, my family, and it’s my fault.”

Merck must register as a sex offender following his release from prison, authorities said. His sentencing came one day after a Cobb County grand jury indicted a former private school band director on similar charges.

Craig Godfrey, who worked at North Cobb Christian School in Acworth, was formally indicted on eight charges after investigators said he had a yearslong sexual relationship with a student that began in 2016 when she was a sophomore.

Godfrey is accused of engaging in sexual activity with the girl on school grounds from February 2016 to May 2019, according to his warrant.

“In addition to physical contact, evidence uncovered communication and explicit photos were exchanged between the suspect and the victim using a social media app,” Acworth police said after his arrest.

ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7orbCZ5qopV%2Bjsri%2Fjp%2Bmq6WVp3qjrc2dZK2dkZi1pr6MoJytq12lv6q%2FzqdkraGdmnqnu9Fmqp6wpZa5rcWMmqqsmaWhwaq6xmaqra2Umru1e5WTfmuFZ2qRc5KkipGBjGeOk5Kmkm2FhW6BZA%3D%3D