October 19, 2006

Former Leland teacher to be released from state prison next week

Earl Roske will be paroled to San Jose

By Julie Davis Berry
Executive Editor

The former Leland chemistry teacher found guilty of committing sex acts with his students last year will be released next week from Avenal State Prison, according to Avenal prison counselor C. Lucero.

Earl Roske, 43, will be released from prison on Oct. 28 and returned to San Jose, where he will serve out his parole.

“He has been serving his time in the sensitive needs yard, which is where we put child molesters and rapists,” said Lucero. “At this time he is not working at the prison because he is preparing to go home. His release date is Saturday, October 28, 2006.”

Earl Roske

He was sentenced to state prison Sept. 8 of last year on a two-year, eight-month sentence and was given credit for 188 days served at the Santa Clara County Jail before Sept. 8. After he’s released from jail, he’ll be on parole for three years and will have to immediately register as a sex offender. He will never be allowed to own a firearm or hold a teaching credential and will have to notify the authorities every time he moves.

Once he is released from prison, Roske will be evaluated by his parole officer and will need to abide by special conditions due to the nature of his crimes, such as not living within 500 feet of a school and not working around children, according to Carolyn Graham, public information officer for Region II Parole Division for the State of California.

Roske is listed on the Megan’s Law Web site as soon as he registers with the San Jose Police Department, said SJPD Public Information Officer Nick Muyo. “He will have to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life. Our sex crimes investigators will hold Roske accountable to the letter of the law. They will make sure he is living where he says he is living and doing what he says he is doing.”

Case background
Roske, accused of having sex with two minor female students, pleaded guilty Aug. 1, 2005 to six of seven sex crime charges.

Roske was arrested May 6 and arraigned May 9 of 2005 on seven felony charges for allegedly committing various sex crimes against minors, including one count of unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor, two counts of oral copulation with a minor, two counts of using a minor to produce child pornography and two counts of sending harmful matter to a minor.

He pled guilty to all of the charges except the charge of having unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor. Fein said additional victims didn’t come forward.

Police reports about Roske’s sex crimes reveal that detectives learned school officials knew as early as August of 2002 of complaints against him.

San Jose police officers began investigating the teacher in April of 2004 when former Leland High School Principal Susan Votaw contacted officers working with the School Safety Liaison Unit and alerted them that she had received an anonymous letter that year alleging Roske was having consensual sexual relations with current and former students.

Detectives presented the evidence to the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s office, which could not prosecute the case due to insufficient evidence. During that investigation, officers also learned that another anonymous letter had been sent in August of 2002.

The San Jose Unified School District was served with a civil lawsuit by a 19-year-old former student in April of this year for failing to act on information provided to the district about the teacher’s inappropriate acts with the students.

“We’re at the early stages of discovery on this case and are looking into an early resolution of the case because in these circumstances we hope to avoid a trial so the victim does not need to testify in court,” said the plaintiff’s attorney, Robert Bohn, Sr. on Wednesday.

Roske’s pending release is weighing heavily on the minds of some of the families affected by his crimes. “It seems like he should have been in prison longer,” said the mother of one of his victims. “Hopefully we’ll never hear from him—or about him again.”