A Lake Caroline resident was sentenced last week in Caroline County Circuit Court to 15 years in prison, with eight of them suspended, on three counts of taking indecent liberties with a minor.
At the time of his arrest last December, Bruce Jay Levy, 53, was a special education teacher in Fredericksburg and was well known in Caroline for his involvement in the arts and youth advocacy programs.
Levy was arrested after the Caroline County Sheriff’s Office responded to a complaint of inappropriate conduct with a juvenile. The victim was a foster child in Levy’s care.
In July, Levy and his attorney entered an Alford plea on the three charges, which acknowledges that there is sufficient evidence for a conviction but that the defendant does not admit his guilt.
At a bond hearing this past spring, the appointment of special prosecutors and a substitute judge was ordered because Levy’s brother is a judge on Virginia’s 15th Circuit, which includes Caroline County.
At that time, defense attorney John Spencer also contended that a conflict arose from the fact that Levy was listed as a Facebook “friend” of Caroline Commonwealth’s Attorney Tony Spencer.
Substitute judge Margaret Spencer presided over the trial in July and last week’s sentencing. The special prosecutors, Mary Langer and Kelli Burnett, are from the Richmond City Commonwealth’s Attorney’s office.
The prosecution alleged that Levy offered his foster son cigarettes in exchange for sexual favors. A recording of this conversation that the youth recorded on his cellphone was introduced as evidence.
At the sentencing hearing last week, Levy continued to assert his innocence. Several character witnesses also testified on Levy’s behalf.
In addition to the seven-year prison sentence, Levy was also ordered to have no unsupervised contact with minors for 20 years and to undergo treatment.
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