Delaware Gym Teacher Charged with Solicitation of a 13-Year-Old Student
Police are accusing a gym teacher and baseball coach in Delaware’s Colonial School District of using Instagram to solicit an eighth-grade girl who attends his school. The gym teacher reached out to the student and asked, “This who I think it is?” The girl confirmed that the account was hers.
The exchange occurred at about 8 p.m. on March 12, according to court records. Over the next four days, police say that the 39-year-old gym teacher at George Read Middle School near New Castle “communicated with the 13-year-old in conversations on Instagram” and “later through text messages that became increasingly sexual in nature.
Police say that the gym teacher sent graphic messages that included pictures of his crotch while he was wearing blue gym shorts. Police further say that the gym teacher told the girl how “horny” he was and described sex acts he wanted to perform on her. The teacher also asked the girl for explicit photos of herself, but she never sent any, police allege.
School officials eventually learned about the gym teacher’s advances and contacted state police. Police assigned to Delaware’s Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force interviewed the teenager’s parents last week and reviewed the conversations. The investigation culminated after police took the gym teacher into custody and charged him with 17 different felonies, including Sexual Solicitation of a Child, Sexual Abuse of a Child by a Person of Trust, and Dangerous Crime Against a Child Under 14.
Sexual Solicitation of a Child in Delaware
Under 11 DE Code § 1112A (2024), a person is guilty of sexual solicitation of a child if the person is 18 years of age or older and intentionally or knowingly:
- Solicits, requests, commands, importunes, or otherwise attempts to cause any child to engage in a prohibited sexual act; or
- Uses a computer, cell phone, or other electronic device to communicate with another person, including a child, to solicit, request, command, importune, entice, encourage, or otherwise attempt to cause a child to engage in a prohibited sexual act.
Under the law, a “child” refers to any individual who is under the age of 18. But also, any individual who represents themselves as being under the age of 18 or who the perpetrator has a reasonable suspicion is under the age of 18. This allows law enforcement to entice members of the public to commit the crime of solicitation even when there is no actual child involved.
Solicitation of a child can either be charged as a class B felony or a class C felony. If the perpetrator travels to meet the victim, then the perpetrator can be charged with a class B felony. Otherwise, the crime is charged as a class C felony.
Talk to a Wilmington, DE Sex Crimes Attorney Today
The law office of Michael W. Modica represents the interests of individuals who have been charged with sex crimes in Delaware. Call our Wilmington criminal defense lawyers today to schedule an appointment, and we can begin preparing your defense right away.
Source:
whyy.org/articles/delaware-middle-school-gym-teacher-solicited-sex-student/
