Payson Roundup

Travis Koppenhafer

Payson High School’s wrestling coach is back to work this week following an investigation into a scuffle with a student in his office that left student and teacher facing disorderly conduct charges.

Physical education teacher Travis Ray Koppenhafer, 28, pled no contest to a disorderly conduct-fighting charge and will be sentenced by Judge Dorothy Little in a Payson courtroom at 1:30 p.m. on Jan. 20.

Student Ryan Alan Abraham, 18, pled not guilty to a disorderly conduct-provoking charge and a pre-trial conference is set for Feb. 10 in Payson.

According to a police report, on Dec. 7, Abraham, another student and Koppenhafer were seated in Koppenhafer’s office just after third period discussing various things. The student witness brought up the subject of “raising your voice while whispering,” and Koppenhafer began imitating whispering.

The three people present offered different accounts of what was said next.

According to the student witness, Abraham, who was sitting behind Koppenhafer, said “Is that how you whisper to your wife?”

Koppenhafer told police he heard Abraham say, “That’s the way I talk to your wife in the bedroom.”

However, Abraham told police he said, “We don’t want to hear how you talk to your wife.”

After Abraham made the disputed remark, Koppenhafer said he turned around to face Abraham, grabbed the front of his jacket and asked, “What did you say?”

Koppenhafer told School Resource Office Jared Meredith that Abraham did not say anything, but gave him a smirking look, and tried to shake him off.

Koppenhafer then pulled Abraham off his chair, pinned him to the floor and “basically sat on top of Ryan (Abraham),” according to the student witness.

Abraham said Koppenhafer put his hand on his neck and his knee on his chest.

Koppenhafer then told Abraham not to talk about his wife like that and Abraham told him to get off. Koppenhafer got off and Abraham left the office to “cool off,” the police report said.

Shortly after the incident, Koppenhafer contacted Principal Roy Sandoval and told him “that he had messed up” and that what Abraham had said about his wife pushed the right buttons and he became angry, lost his cool and he didn’t control his anger like he should, according to the police report.

On Dec. 8, Abraham went to talk to Koppenhafer in his classroom, but Koppenhafer told him to leave. Abraham then went and spoke with school secretary, Sherry Goode, about what had happened and she told him to talk with Sandoval.

Around 12:40 p.m. on Dec. 9, Sandoval contacted Meredith about the incident and Meredith interviewed the other student present, and then Koppenhafer. Meredith then called Abraham at home because it was after school hours.

When Meredith told Abraham that he and Koppenhafer would both be charged with disorderly conduct, “he then became upset and yelled that he just wanted to press charges against Koppenhafer for assaulting him and then he yelled at his father in the background that we were going to be charging him also,” according to the police report.

The following day, Meredith met with Koppenhafer and Abraham and cited them.

“It should also be noted that on that day, during citing the different individuals, Koppenhafer had an apologetic attitude and admitted to messing up and knew that he had done something wrong, being in his line of work,” Meredith said in the report.

“Abraham, on the other hand, had the attitude that he was after Koppenhafer and was out to get him,” Meredith said in the report. “Abraham also made the comment that he is not the type of kid who is going to put up with someone like Koppenhafer, and that he would give Koppenhafer it right back.”

Following school policy, Koppenhafer was placed on home assignment with pay after the incident, and not allowed to attend wrestling meets until the investigation was complete.

Superintendent Casey O’Brien said he could not comment on the case because personnel matters are confidential.