A former art teacher at Spruce Mountain High School in Jay pleaded guilty Wednesday to sexually exploiting a minor and disseminating sexually explicit material.

Jan M. Barlow, 48, of Auburn entered guilty pleas following a judicial settlement conference before Justice Nancy Mills. He had been a teacher at the school for about 15 years.

Barlow was sentenced to a total of 11 years, seven years on the sexual exploitation charge and four years for the dissemination charge, with all but nine months and one day suspended. Once he is released, he will serve five years of probation. He was also ordered to be a lifetime registrant on the Sex Offender Registry.

A conviction on the two charges carried a maximum sentence of up to 15 years.

Barlow is scheduled to turn himself in at the Franklin County Detention Center in Farmington to begin his sentence April 20. If he violates his probation, he could end up serving more of the sentence.

Barlow was initially arrested in March 2025 after Superintendent Scott Albert received a complaint Feb. 27, 2025, from a parent. School resource officer Cpl. Anthony York conducted an investigation. A warrant was obtained to search Barlow’s house in Auburn.

Barlow was placed on paid administrative leave pending the investigation. He was released from the Franklin County Detention Center on $5,000 cash bail on March 10 and resigned on March 11. He was indicted by a Franklin County grand jury in November 2025.

According to an affidavit filed in a Farmington court by York last year, the mother of the victim caught Barlow and the student, who was fully dressed, together on the video chat app FaceTime.

The victim got Barlow’s phone number from Barlow’s art website and contacted him. The two started chatting. At one time, the two allegedly exchanged nude photos of themselves, according to an affidavit. Barlow also tried to get the girl to delete evidence of the encounters, according to the affidavit.

Assistant District Attorneys James Driscoll and Nathan Walsh prosecuted the case and Jonathan Goodman represented Barlow. Goodman had previously declined giving a comment on the case. He was not immediately available on Wednesday afternoon.