Minnesota “Teacher of the Year” Sentenced To 14 Years In Prison For SexAbuse Of 14-Year Old

“The ones you trust the most”

Once again, a Teacher of the Year has made the news for all the wrong reasons.

Abdul Wright, from Hennepin County, Minnesota, has just been found guilty of repeatedly grooming and sexually abusing a 14-year old girl, even in the school classroom!

To give that even more context, we’re talking about an 8th Grader here.

Sicko!

Local Fox9 reports the Judge also determined he lied under oath in the Courtroom:

The student testified during the trial how the sexual abuse lasted for nearly a year and took place on multiple occasions, including inside the classroom.

Wright was named the Minnesota Teacher of the Year for 2016. He started sexually abusing the student the following year, according to court records.

“I think that his status and him being Teacher of the Year really was a reason that a lot of people turned a blind eye,” the student previously told the FOX 9 Investigators. She described the relationship as “manipulative” and “grooming.”

Evidence introduced during the trial included multiple gifts or tokens of affection, including a charm bracelet with an infinity symbol and the words “forever friends.”

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Prosecutors also questioned Wright about hundreds of calls with the student, which the family told the school about years ago.

“A phone record that was insane – it was all time of day, all time of night,” the student’s father told the FOX 9 Investigators. “All of his behavior was hiding in plain sight.”

One of the most consequential pieces of evidence was an incriminating phone call between Wright and the student’s mother where Wright appeared to admit to the abuse.

“I aint never did no [expletive] like that before and I thank God this morning when I didn’t have the police at my door,” Wright said during the recorded call.

What they’re saying:
In her written verdict, Judge Sarah West said that recording helped prove Wright lied on the stand when he claimed his innocence.

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“It appeared to this court that Mr. Wright was lying during his testimony and truthful during the record[ed] call,” Judge West said.

Watch more here:

Credit to the Judge who hit him with the maximum time in prison allowable under the standards.  From local MPRNews:

A judge on Friday handed a 14-year sentence to a former Minnesota Teacher of the Year convicted of sexually abusing one of his students.

…

West sentenced Wright to 172 months, the top of the guidelines range for a person with no previous criminal history convicted of first-degree criminal sexual conduct. Under Minnesota law, Wright must spend two-thirds of that time, or 9 and a half years, in prison before he’s eligible to serve the remainder of his term on supervised release. West also ordered Wright to register as a predatory offender.

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