A Norristown middle school teacher asked to kiss one of his eighth-grade students, DA says
John Richards, a teacher at Blockson Middle School, asked a 13-year-old student for permission to kiss her during a planned field trip to Washington, according to police.
A teacher at a middle school in Norristown told one of his eighth-grade students that she was beautiful and asked for permission to kiss her during a planned field trip to Washington, prosecutors in Montgomery County said Wednesday.
John Richards, 57, was charged with attempted institutional sexual assault, attempted corruption of minors, unlawful contact with a minor, and related crimes after prosecutors say the girl, 13, told her father and the school’s principal about the inappropriate text message.
Richards, a science teacher at Blockson Middle School, remained in custody Wednesday in lieu of $10,000 bail, court records show. There was no indication he had hired an attorney.
In a letter sent to parents Wednesday, school district officials said that an employee faced “serious criminal charges,” without naming Richards, and that they are confident there are “sufficient grounds” to fire him.
“We want to emphasize that our focus is always on the safety, security, and well-being of each and every student,” the statement read. “We commend both school district personnel and the Norristown Police department for their immediate responses to address this matter with urgency and thoroughness. We are and will do everything in our power to support those impacted by this situation.”
Norristown police were called to Blockson on Monday morning after the girl reported Richards to administrators there, according to the affidavit of probable cause for his arrest.
In an interview, the girl said that Richards had been looking at her in a way that made her uncomfortable, and she decided to record her interaction with him on her cell phone when he called her up to his desk during class.
The video shows that Richards had typed out a text message in Spanish using Google Translate, and placed his phone on his desk for the girl to read, the affidavit said.
In the message, Richards tells the girl that he is “very nervous” and says he would like to kiss her “at least 2 times in Washington.” The girl and her classmates were scheduled to attend a field trip to the city on Tuesday, and Richards was a chaperone for the trip.
“If you say no, that is ok, you’re not any less beautiful. … You don’t need to tell me now unless you know the answer,” Richards wrote in his message, according to the affidavit. He urged the girl to give him an answer before the bus arrived in Washington.
The girl later told police the message shocked her. She said she didn’t know what to do, because she didn’t expect to hear that kind of language from an adult. Months earlier, around Christmas, Richards had asked for her address and then personally delivered a gift to her there, hugging her before leaving, according to the affidavit.
Later Monday, Richards consented to have his cell phone searched by investigators. They found the original message seen in the girl’s video, as well as a second message to her in which he apologized, saying his words “came out all wrong.”
Richards, in his second message, wrote that his heart “skips a beat” when he sees the girl and stares at her without meaning to.
“I wonder what you [sic] lips taste like, and I hope to god there’s a chance for me to find out,” he wrote, according to the affidavit. “I don’t know what else to say besides I think you’re amazing.”
Richards is scheduled to appear for a preliminary hearing on March 27.