Former CCSD substitute pleads guilty to having relationship with student

With Willie Bell’s plea, prosecutors agreed to drop charges of dissuading a witness.

His attorney, Bret Whipple, is expected to argue for probation at an October sentencing, while prosecutors are likely to ask for prison time.

Under the agreement, Bell would have to register as a sex offender, Whipple said.

“He realizes he made a mistake,” the attorney said. “He’s never done anything wrong in his life, other than this.”

An Eldorado High School employee told police in February that a 17-year-old female student called him and disclosed her relationship with Bell. She told the employee that her parents knew she was seeing Bell, 26, but did not know he was a basketball coach and substitute at the school, according to a police report.

The student told police that she and Bell met in late November. They exchanged numbers after school so that she could text a food order to him. They then started texting regularly, according to the report.

Bell and the student met up outside of school for the first time sometime before Christmas break. He picked her up from her house without her parents’ knowledge, police said.

The two went to Bell’s house, but the student told police she just slept. Bell told police that they had sex the night of Nov. 25 and the next morning.

Bell told police they also had sex in his car on Dec. 31 and again around the second week of January.

The student later told police about a Feb. 1 conversation she had with Bell about their relationship, according to the report. She said he asked her, “Do you really know what you’re going to get ourselves into, what’s going to happen to me, how am I going to support you if I’m in jail?”

Bell never taught the girl, and was not directly involved in instruction with her, Whipple said.

Contact David Ferrara at dferrara@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-1039. Follow @randompoker on Twitter.