Ex-teacher sent to prison for sexually abusing 6 students

DOYLESTOWN (AP) — A former high school teacher and coach was sentenced to six to 12 years in state prison for sexually abusing six students over a period of more than 10 years.

Christian Willman, 40, of Coopersburg, was sentenced Tuesday in Bucks County after pleading guilty to several charges, including sexual assault and criminal solicitation by a sports official.

Bucks County Judge Wallace H. Bateman called Willman “pure evil masked as a teacher.”

Willman declined to make a statement and did not look at his victims as they described for the court how he had abused them, The (Allentown) Morning Call reported.

“He gave me constant compliments,” one of the young women said. “At 14 years old, this made me feel special. Now I know he was grooming me to be a victim.”

Willman sexually assaulted four students at Parkland High School, where he worked from 2001 to 2011, and victimized two more at Palisades High School, where he taught from 2011 to 2018, authorities said. Willman would groom his targets, wait until they turned 16 to begin assaulting them, and then end contact once they graduated, authorities said.

The allegations spanned from 2006 to 2018.

Willman was an industrial arts teacher, theater program official and assistant boys soccer coach at Parkland. He taught robotics and technology at Palisades and was the girls soccer coach.

“He was entrusted by this community to educate students and instead he took advantage of that trust in the most egregious ways possible. I commend those that brought forth the allegations of misconduct and admire the amazing courage of the victims to end Chris Willman’s abhorrent behavior,” Palisades School District Superintendent Bridget O’Connell said in a written statement.

Parkland Superintendent Richard Sniscak said his district is “heartbroken that any Parkland students were involved in the case.”