CODY - A former Lovell High School history teacher and football coach pleaded guilty Wednesday to one felony count of taking indecent liberties with a minor child.

Troy S. Pittman, 33, of Lovell, had worked until October as a teacher in Lovell, when he was charged in Big Horn County following an investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct with students and/or football players there.

The details of those charges were not disclosed at the time, in keeping with a state law passed in 2007 requiring that all information about sex crimes cases be kept confidential until the matter advances to District Court.

Timothy Blatt, a deputy county attorney for Park County, told District Court Judge John Brackley on Wednesday that the plea deal was part of a "package agreement" that included dismissing one count of the same charge in Big Horn County.

Also dismissed was the second of two pending counts of the same charge in Park County, stemming from a separate set of incidents that were alleged to have taken place more than a decade earlier than the alleged incidents in Big Horn County.

It was news of Pittman's October arrest in Big Horn County that prompted additional disclosures about incidents alleged to have taken place in the mid-1990s, when he was an assistant football coach at Powell High School, according to an affidavit of probable cause filed in connection with the Park County case.

Brackley issued a suspended sentence of three to five years in state prison, contingent on Pittman's successful completion of five years of supervised probation.

Outlining the facts of the case for Brackley, Blatt stated that in the fall of 1995, Pittman was working as a practicum teacher and football coach at Powell High School.

Pittman invited a 15-year-old male student to a private residence where he showed the boy pornography and encouraged him to engage in specific sexual activities, Blatt said.

Pittman pleaded guilty to the single count based on the incident as detailed by Blatt.

Blatt told Brackley that the victim in that incident and other alleged victims, none of whom were identified, no longer lived in the area and were not fully cooperating with prosecutors, which was one reason for the plea agreement.

Brackley told Pittman that he would ordinarily be "treated more harshly" during sentencing, but he understood that the complications in prosecuting the case justified the plea agreement as recommended by prosecutors.

"It may seem pretty easy," Brackley told Pittman in describing the sentence.

"But believe me, there are people out there in the community that have taken a dim view of your conduct," he said, adding that Pittman should take his sentence seriously.

Blatt said state law would require that Pittman register as a sex offender.

He faces no fines or restitution, but must pay a total of $225 in court costs and standard victim compensation fees.

Dan Coe, superintendent for Big Horn County School District 2, said in January that Pittman ceased working as a coach or teacher for the district in late October.

Pittman now works for a Lovell construction company, according to his attorney, John Worrall.