KING

Phil Frederick McGee stands in a King County courtroom in Seattle on Thursday, June 12, 2008. McGee was sentenced to over 16 years in prison for molesting four sisters he met through his work as a physical education teacher.

SEATTLE – A former physical education teacher will spend 16 and a half years in prison for molesting four girls, all of them sisters, whom he met through two Seattle elementary schools where he taught.

Phil Frederick McGee pleaded guilty in April to five counts of child molestation. The 74-year-old could have received up to 20 years in prison.

At his sentencing, McGee told the judge he realizes it's a life sentence.

"You know what they say about old age. It doesn't last long," McGee told the judge. "Most likely, I'm not going to see the end of (the sentence) anyway."

According to published reports, prosecutors say McGee groomed the girls over 10 years by offering rides, helping the family out at home and even helping the girls' mother, who is Cambodian, with her immigration papers.

The molestation happened between 2002 and 2006, beginning when the youngest girl was about 7-years-old and the oldest was 15.

He taught at B.F. Day and Rainier View elementary schools from 1994 until about 2005.

McGee's oldest victim was reportedly a student in his after-school ballroom dance class at B.F. Day.

Once in their trust, prosecutors say McGee molested the girls at his home and on his boat and even engaged in what was described by the girls as "grandpa kisses."

McGee was reprimanded in 2002 by B.F. Day officials over his relationship with the girls. Prosecutors say after that, McGee got the mother to sign a power of attorney letter she didn't understand, giving McGee the right to make decisions about the girls.

While all this was happening, McGee's granddaughter reported in 2005 that McGee had touched her private area on two different occasions. The parents wanted to avoid a trial, so McGee was allowed to plead guilty to fourth-degree assault.

That case led McGee to be placed on leave from Rainier View Elementary.

He was also barred from seeing any minors, but prosecutors say the molestation continued until one of the girls finally came forward. McGee left the state but was arrested in May 2007 in Wyoming.

Ironicially, McGee once worked as a police officer in the Eastern Washington town of Grand Coulee.