Ex-teacher sentenced for sharing pot, nudes with students

An eight-month jail term has been imposed on a former Mohave High School teacher and athletics coach who admitted smoking pot with students in Bullhead City, Ariz., and sending nude cellphone pictures of himself to one of them.

An investigation began in March when a 17-year-old girl told her principal that Joseph Pagel sent her nude pictures, provided some students prescription pills and got high with others.

"I know and understand what I have done is wrong and inappropriate," Pagel told a probation officer, after previously pleading guilty to reduced charges of transfer of marijuana and luring a minor for sexual exploitation. "Count two happened when I was high on pills and marijuana. I never in my right mind would have sent inappropriate things while sober."

Defense attorney Shawn Hamp offered Pagel's apologies to students, their parents and his peers during Wednesday's sentencing hearing in Kingman.

In addition to the jail time, Mohave County Superior Court Judge Lee Jantzen placed Pagel on probation for five years and ordered him to comply with sex offender registration requirements.