Former special ed teacher sent to prison for child sex assault

By Patrick Lynn

A former Stevens Point teacher and troubled youth mentor will spend four years in prison after being convicted of second-degree child sex assault, a Class C felony.

Jo Pang, 42, was sentenced in Portage County Circut Court on Feb. 23. Pang took a plea deal from the district attorney’s office last November: upon pleading guilty to the single charge, a charge of repeated sexual assault of the same child would be dismissed but read-in for sentencing.

After four years in prison, he will spend 10 years on extended supervision.

Pang was arrested in December 2019 after engaging in a sexual relationship with a 15-year-old boy he was mentoring. He was placed on administrative leave by the school district the same day he was arrested, then resigned from his position as a special education teacher at P.J. Jacobs Jr. High in January 2020.

The victim told investigators that he and Pang engaged in both oral and anal sex on multiple occasions, according to the complaint.

Pang was having a sexual relationship with a 15-year-old boy he was mentoring through a county program. The relationship reportedly ended in April 2019, according to Assistant District Attorney Robert Jambois, and the assault was reported to Portage Co. Health and Human Services in November.

Pang previously worked as a cheer coach at UWSP and as a substitute teacher at Pacelli Catholic Schools.

Pang was hired as a summer school teacher in 2018, according to Sarah O’Donnell, communications director with the school district, and was then hired as a special education teacher at P.J. Jacobs Junior High during the 2018 school year.

Conditions of Pang’s extended supervision include no contact with the victim, no contact with children under the age of 18, not using the internet unless preapproved by his agent, comply with a sex offender assessment and treatment, and registering to the state’s sex offender registry.