An ex-Proctor middle school teacher and coach has received a four-year sentence for molesting one of his former students dozens of times.

Todd R. Clark, who was a math teacher at Proctor's A.I. Jedlicka Middle School and a varsity basketball coach, was sentenced Monday in St. Louis County District Court after pleading guilty in April to third-degree criminal sexual conduct for assaulting the teenage girl many times over the course of a year, beginning in 2017.

With credit for time in jail since his arrest, Clark is expected to serve slightly more than 2 1⁄2 years in prison and the balance on supervised release.

Judge Theresa Neo's sentence also included that Clark register with the state as a predatory offender.

Clark, a Proctor graduate, coached the boys' varsity basketball team for seven seasons, until he resigned in 2019. He taught algebra at the middle school until his arrest in August 2021.

According to the criminal complaint and other court records:

Authorities were alerted to the allegations in August, when the teenager confided in another teacher at the school, who told police.

The teen told Duluth police that Clark, her onetime eighth-grade teacher who took her on as a classroom assistant, kissed and molested her during car rides, and he "had a process where during the middle of the ride he would go to a car wash and ... sexually abuse [her]," according to the charges.

A police search of the teens' cellphone turned up several incriminating texts written by Clark. One read, "Even an accusation of improper behavior ruins a teacher's career. My future is in your hands," the complaint read.

When the girl told him she was having difficulty keeping the encounters a secret, Clark made threats in various ways that he would take his own life.