A former Ponderosa High School security guard was sentenced to eight years in prison Oct. 12 for sexually assaulting a student at the school.

Gary Postell, 51, was sentenced to eight years in the Colorado Department of Corrections, according to a release from the 18th Judicial District. He pleaded guilty Aug. 17 to child abuse negligently causing serious bodily injury, a Class 4 felony. Postell also received 10 years of sex offender intensive supervised probation on the count of sexual exploitation of a child, a Class 3 felony.

Other charges were dismissed per the plea agreement.

The mother of the victim spoke during the sentencing.

“How sick do you have to be to attack a 15-year-old child?” she said. My daughter “was not protected by the security guard … Adults are obligated to look after children and take care of them, not prey on them.

“He is responsible, not the child, not my daughter,” the mother added. “I am here to see him taken away in handcuffs like he deserves.”

The student reported the incident Nov. 28, 2016. Postell was arrested the next day.

“I can’t imagine a more quintessential position of trust than the relationship this defendant had with this child,” said Chief Deputy District Attorney Gary Dawson. “This crime occurred during the school day, in the school. That was the level of need and appetite this defendant had for this child. This sentence is absolutely appropriate.”