URBANA - A Champaign County judge sentenced former Unit 5 teacher Jon White to 48 years in prison Friday for the sexual abuse of eight students at an Urbana elementary school. | Parents of abused kids reaction | Unit 5 hiring, screening being evaluated | Unit 5 letter of recommendation for Jon White (PDF) | White apology | Letter of recommendation reaction

He admitted to sexual misconduct that did not involve physical contact with 10 girls in Urbana and Normal.

"The effects will be felt in Normal and this community (Urbana) for years to come," Champaign County State's Attorney Julia Rietz said of White's actions.

White pleaded guilty Feb. 20 in Champaign County of abusing eight girls. He was sentenced Friday on those charges.

In McLean County, he pleaded guilty the same day to two counts of sexual abuse involving two girls at Colene Hoose Elementary School in Normal. He taught there from 2003 to 2005 before moving to Thomas Paine Elementary School in Urbana.

White left his post at Hoose after the parents of a fifth-grade girl complained that White followed her around the school and gave her photos of an actress that he said she resembled, prosecutors said.

Rietz asked Judge Harry Clem to sentence White to the maximum prison term allowed: seven years for each of the eight victims for a total of 56 years.

Rietz argued White's practice of sexual abuse started shortly after he was hired to work at Hoose.

White designed what has become known as the "taste-testing game" at the Normal school, said Rietz.

White was caught viewing adult pornography on his classroom computer at Hoose before he was allowed to resign with a letter of recommendation.

Later, evidence was found that showed White may have been looking at child pornography on his home computer.

Defense attorney Brett Olmstead made it clear in his arguments that the allegations against White involved the teacher blindfolding students and asking them to lick various toppings from a banana. Later, White performed a sexual act in the classroom with scarves and blindfolds the children had worn during the tasting game, said Olmstead.

Calling White "a master manipulator, a deceiver and a betrayer of trust," Olmstead said the case against White varies from other sexual abuse cases because the children did not perform any sexual acts.

The fact that the activity involved a banana allowed White to continue the activity with children - even after some parents in Urbana questioned it and he was questioned by school administrators, said the defense lawyer.

The defense asked that White be sentenced to 32 years in prison, four years for the allegations involving each child.

"We're disappointed with the sentence and we're in the process of preparing for the sentencing in Bloomington," White's attorney Carol Dison said.

White could receive an additional 14 years when he is sentenced April 28 in Bloomington.

As part of White's sentence, he will be required to register as a sex offender.

A witness at the sentencing hearing testified about White's potential to commit additional sexual crimes. Clinical therapist Michael Kleppin said White admitted to the actions prosecutors described.

Kleppin classified White as a sexual deviant who should be further evaluated to rule out pedophilia. In a seven-hour interview with Kleppin, White said the "taste-testing game" was as far as he would go with the girls.

"I had a line in my mind I would not cross," Kleppin said White told him.

White's pattern of sexual conduct makes him likely to offend again, said Kleppin.

"If there's not an interruption in the cycle, it will repeat," Kleppin said.

White is eligible for day-for-day credit on his prison term. He was given credit for 106 days served in the county jail.

White originally was charged with predatory criminal sexual assault, counts which alleged direct physical contact with the girls. He pleaded guilty to lesser charges which alleged sexual misconduct that did not involving touching the victims.