Willits principal pleads guilty; as mandated reporter, he failed to report child abuse

A criminal jury trial set for this coming Monday involving a Willits high school principal was averted Thursday afternoon when a resolution offered by the DA was accepted by the defense in the Mendocino County Superior Court.

Defendant Michael Charles Colvig, age 45, of Willits, plead guilty to two misdemeanor counts of being a mandated child abuse reporter who failed to make mandated reports as required by law.

Known as a deferred entry of plea, those pleas are now being held by the court in abeyance for the next 36 months. If the defendant complies with all of the terms of his DEJ, the guilty pleas may be withdrawn and the charges will be dismissed at the end of the 36 months.

During the next 36 months, defendant Colvig must prepare for the District Attorney's approval a presentation for school administrators and employees on the duties and obligations of mandated reporters. The presentation must include a section on the legal consequences of failing to report.

Once said presentation has been approved by the DA, the defendant must offer to -- and in any district where said offer is accepted -- present his project to the  administrators and mandated reporter employees in each of the nine school districts in Mendocino County. 

Defendant Colvig is also required as a term of his DEJ to donate $800 per year, for a total of $2,400, for the next three years to the Willits Center for the Arts, said money to be earmarked for scholarships and other assistance to the Center's Kids' Art Camp each July.

Finally, defendant Colvig must obey all laws and not commit the same or similar offense during his term of deferred entry of judgment.

The attorney who handled the prosecution of this case is Deputy District Attorney Melissa Weems. The law enforcement agencies that developed the evidence to support the prosecution were the Willits Police Department, the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office, and the District Attorney's own investigators.

Mendocino County Superior Court Judge Cindee Mayfield presided over Thursday's resolution.