The previous dean of a Chicago Public Colleges highschool will likely be spending nearly 22 years in jail for repeatedly sexually assaulting a pupil between 2013 and 2015.
A jury convicted Brian Crowder, 43, of a number of counts of legal sexual assault and legal sexual abuse final month. On Tuesday, Decide Stanley Sacks sentenced him to 12 years on one legal sexual assault conviction and a pair of consecutive five-year phrases for the remaining costs, in response to court docket information.
A jury discovered him responsible final month after listening to proof that included medical information, signed abortion consent kinds, and Snapchat messages between Crowder and the sufferer.
Crowder allegedly started grooming the lady in 2013 whereas serving as dean at Better Lawndale Excessive Faculty for Social Justice, 3120 South Kostner Avenue, in Little Village. The sufferer, now 27, was between 15 and 17 years previous on the time.
Prosecutors mentioned that Crowder first messaged the lady on Snapchat and despatched her a video of himself saying, “I would like you.” He invited her to his house “a number of” occasions, served her alcohol, and sexually assaulted her for the primary time in his bed room that summer time, in response to the allegations.
The abuse continued 5 – 6 occasions a month for 2 years, prosecutors mentioned. The sufferer turned pregnant twice—as soon as in 2014 and once more in 2015—and Crowder posed as her stepfather to signal consent kinds so she may obtain abortions each occasions, prosecutors alleged. These medical information, containing Crowder’s title and signature, served as proof towards Crowder.
A search warrant for Crowder’s Snapchat account uncovered messages by which he and the sufferer mentioned assembly at his house and referenced their sexual relationship.
The lady disclosed the abuse to a faculty worker throughout her senior yr, however she didn’t go to the police on the time as a result of she feared her identification would turn into public, prosecutors mentioned. She minimize off contact with Crowder in 2015.
4 years later, in 2019, Crowder reached out to her once more, first on social media, then at her office. The lady instructed a good friend concerning the abuse that yr and in the end filed a police report in 2024.
Shortly after she went to the police, prosecutors mentioned, Crowder despatched her a textual content message that learn, “Goodbye without end.”
Editor’s be aware: This report has been corrected to mirror the sentence obtained. It beforehand acknowledged Crowder obtained 17 years.
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