Additional charges have been filed against a former Palisades High School teacher and girls soccer coach stemming from his alleged sexual abuse of four female students at Parkland High School in South Whitehall Township.
The Bucks County District Attorney’s office said Thursday that Christian Howard Willman, 39, of the 3800 block of S. Church Street, Upper Saucon Township, Lehigh County, has been charged with four counts of corruption of minors and four counts of child pornography possession.
The charges were announced at a news conference (see below for the video).
Willman remains jailed in lieu of bail set at 10 percent of $1,000,000 as a result of charges filed against him May; charges which allege that he sexually abused two female students while he was employed as a teacher and coach at Palisades, which is located in Nockamixon Township, Bucks County.
“The new charges reflect the systematic abuse of four female students at Parkland High School…where Willman was employed as a teacher from 2001 to 2011,” the DA’s office said in a post on its Crimewatch website.
Christian Howard Willman, 39, of Upper Saucon Township is accused of sexually assaulting one student at Palisades High School, where he worked as a teacher. (FILE PHOTO)
“Taken together, the charges show a pattern by which Willman abused students by waiting until they turned 16, courting them through text messages and later escalating to physical sexual contact,” the office said, adding that, “the abuse ended after the victims left high school.”
The Lehigh County District Attorney’s Office has transferred jurisdiction for the prosecution of the alleged offenses to the Bucks County District Attorney’s Office, which is handling the previously filed charges against Willman.
Both the Bucks County District Attorney’s office and investigators from Pennsylvania State Police said Thursday they believe there may be other alleged victims of Willman in the area, as well as “individuals possessing corroborating information or electronic evidence.”
“You may not consider yourself to be a victim in the traditional sense of the word, but let us be the judge of whether or not you were one of his victims,” said District Attorney Matthew Weintraub. “You are not alone, and you should not feel embarrassed to come forward and stand up for yourself.”
Bucks County District Attorney Matthew Weintraub announces the filing of additional charges against former Palisades schoolteacher and girls soccer coach Christian Howard Willman at a press conference Thursday. The new charges stem from allegations that Willman sexually abused four girls while he was employed as a teacher in the Parkland School District in South Whitehall Township, Lehigh County, between 2001 and 2011.
Anyone with information related to the ongoing investigation of Christian Howard Willman should contact Tpr. Christopher Cleveland at the Pennsylvania State Police’s Dublin barracks by calling 215-766-5030.
The case has been assigned for prosecution to Deputy District Attorney Kate Kohler.
Parkland School District officials posted on the district’s Facebook page Thursday that all district staff and families received an email about the charges against Willman but the post didn’t include the content of the email.
In it, Superintendent Richard Sniscak said Willman was employed as a technology education teacher at Parkland High School from 2001 to 2011.
“In August 2011, he resigned from Parkland and was believed to have gone to work for Palisades School District,” Sniscak wrote. “At various times during his employment years at Parkland, Mr. Willman also served as the Technical Director-Theater Productions, the High School Stagecraft Advisor and as the Assistant Boys Soccer Coach.”
Calling the allegations that resulted in the latest charges against Willman “disturbing and upsetting,” he asked anyone with information pertinent to the investigation to contact Pennsylvania State Police at Dublin.
Palisades administrators previously stated the district will have no further comment on the investigation, and that they have cooperated with authorities.
Any additional Lehigh County investigations arising from the case will remain under the jurisdiction of the Bucks County District Attorney’s Office, it was announced.
