Former Ballantyne daycare teacher pleads guilty to molesting kids

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A former Ballantyne daycare teacher who admitted to molesting children will spend a maximum of 2 1/2 years in prison.

Joseph Starnes was in court for about 15 minutes Tuesday morning and admitted that he had sexually assaulted two young boys at an after-school program in Ballantyne over a period of eight months.

[MORE: Daycare where alleged sex abuse happened cited for several violations]

[READ: Man accused of fondling 2 children at Ballantyne day care center]

Starnes was heavily shackled as he walked into the courtroom and stood next to his attorney.

The prosecutor told the judge that Starnes had been working at the Primrose School of Ballantyne where he had allegedly sexually assaulted a number of children, but that he was pleading guilty to taking indecent liberties with two boys between August 2016 and March of last year.

One of those boys finally told his parents what had happened.

“(The child) told his mother on March 6 of 2017 when she picked him up from (the) after-school (program) that the defendant had touched his private parts,” prosecutor Terra Varnes said.

The school had actually held a session just the week before that on “bad touches” and it included some scenarios between students and teachers.

As part of the plea deal, prosecutors dismissed 10 charges that Starnes was facing.

Starnes did not say anything before the judge sentenced him to between 18 and 31 months in prison.

Once he gets out of prison, Starnes will have to register as a sex offender for 30 years.

“Well, actually, one could argue that the man got a much harsher sentence than a lot of people,” veteran attorney Brad Smith said.

Smith said that's because, on the state sentencing grid, those charges don't mandate prison sentences for defendants like Starnes, who've never been in trouble before.

“And those folks usually walk out of court on probation,” Smith said. “They don't get any jail time at all, especially for someone with no criminal history. That's a very common sentence.

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