A former Elkhorn Valley Public Schools teacher said sexual misconduct with his students was intended to build up a good rapport with them.
He didn't think of the outcome and called his actions "stupid."
Twenty-nine-year-old Lee Burenheide said he knows he crossed a professional boundary and doesn't even remember having conversations with female students through text messaging and Facebook chats.
"It's frightening when you don't recall those things happening. That has to be frightening for you and a concern for society," said Judge Robert Ensz at Burenheide's sentencing Friday in Madison County District Court here for possessing a topless photo of a student and for touching two students sexually.
Ensz sentenced Burenheide to 12-18 months in prison for possession of a visual depiction of sexually explicit conduct and three months each for two counts of third-degree sexual assault. In total, Burenheide must serve nine months before he becomes eligible for parole or a year on his maximum term.
Burenheide denied the third-degree sexual assault even at sentencing Friday.
But a victim's mother testified that her daughter will be dealing with the incident for the rest of her life.
"You never think something like that would happen in a small town until it does," she said.
Madison County deputy attorney Mike Long said there is no reason for an adult male teacher to have contact with students after hours.
"The contact in and of itself is peculiar -- like he was going behind the back of the parents to have contact," he said. "We expect teachers . . . to behave themselves and to act like another parent."
Long said Burenheide was engaging in the behavior in the hopes of a pay-off in a further physical or sexual encounter.
"I absolutely believe that's where this was headed before we intervened," he said.
Burenheide's lawyer, Tom Donner of Wisner, argued for his client to receive probation because he had no prior criminal record.
Burenheide most likely will also surrender his teaching certificate with a pending action by the Nebraska Department of Education.
Donner said everything Burenheide does from here on out will be viewed "under the halo of these allegations."
He said criminal justice has gone to guilt by accusation alone, citing credibility issues with victims' statements.
"Any allegation by a child is believed. . . How do you defend against that?" he said.
Before making his ruling, Ensz told Burenheide that he was placed in a position of trust and therefore held to a higher standard than others.
"You're not friends with students," he told Burenheide. "You're not going to be their buddy. Your job is to teach, to instruct. . . . The acts you committed were not just inappropriate; they were criminal."
Burenheide must register as a sex offender for 25 years after his release from prison.
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