The former teacher convicted of raping two of his students between 2017 and 2008 learned his fate Thursday afternoon.
Gary Gregor was convicted of 12 counts of kidnapping and sexual misconduct in December. In Santa Fe District Court on Thursday, he was sentenced to 108 years in prison.
Now, two of his victims have closure. Prosecutors read a statement on behalf of one of them Thursday afternoon.
“I was ready to give up because all I wanted to do was forget about it, but I couldn’t be selfish. I couldn’t let this man go free again so he could keep doing his dirt and ruin other little girls’ lives,” the prosecutor read aloud.
Gregor is accused of raping at least eight other girls in Espanola and Santa Fe while he was teaching at the schools. During his December conviction, Attorney General Hector Balderas called Gregor a serial predator.
Thursday, just before handing down his sentence, Judge Marlow Sommer referred to him as a monster. “We turn these children over to teachers, and you are supposed to educate and lead by example…and what at least two, if not more, learned from you is that monsters are real,” Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer said.
Gregor did not speak on his own behalf Thursday afternoon because he is still facing two more trials.
In January, a judge declared a mistrial after a jury was unable to decide if he was guilty of assaulting a different student. The Attorney General’s office says it plans to retry that case.
Espanola Public Schools has already paid millions of dollars in civil cases that claim the district ignored multiple sexual abuse claims against Gregor. In October, another civil case was filed against Santa Fe Public Schools claiming Gregor molested a fourth grader while he was teaching at Agua Fria Elementary School.
Gregor was accused of similar crimes in both Utah and Montana before being hired by Santa Fe Public Schools in 2000.
