An ex-Chester County teacher’s sexual assault trial begins with questions of consent

The trial of a one-time Chester County charter school teacher’s alleged sexual assault of two former students began Monday with prosecutors painting him as a predator who abused his position to groom his victims.

Assistant District Attorney Jessica Acito said Seth Reich, 42, coerced a 17-year-old theater student at Pennsylvania Leadership Charter School Center for Performing and Fine Arts into a sexual relationship during her senior year. After that student graduated in the summer of 2019, Reich arranged for her, along with another former student, to spend the night with him at a hotel, Acito said, where he plied them with tequila and sexually assaulted the second victim.

“Teachers are the shepherds of our youth. They are supposed to keep students safe,” Acito said. “This defendant did the exact opposite. He wasn’t a shepherd. He didn’t watch over his flock.”

Reich has been charged with institutional sexual assault, corruption of minors and related offenses stemming from his relationship with the former student. He has also been charged with sexual assault and providing alcohol to minors on the night he allegedly spent with the two teens in a hotel.

Reich’s attorney, James Funt, balked at the prosecution’s description of the case. Citing hundreds of text and WhatsApp messages exchanged by the victims and their former teacher, Funt told jurors that the sexual encounters were consensual.

“The fact that [one of the victims] is upset about the choices she made does not make what Seth did illegal,” Funt said.

» READ MORE: A teacher at a Chester County charter school ‘groomed’ a student into a sexual relationship, DA says

Prosecutors were first alerted to Reich in 2021, when the first victim came forward to describe her relationship with him. She told police that Reich began texting her with when she was 17, initially about his class. Gradually, their texts became flirtatious, according to Acito, as Reich convinced her they were equals, and that he could help her break into a career in show business.

“He saw [the victim’s] schoolgirl crush and he escalated it,” Acito said. “He blurred the line until it was nonexistent.”

The former student told investigators that Reich initiated a sexual encounter with her in his classroom in May 2019, and that they had sex hundreds of times over the next 18 months, hiding the relationship from Reich’s wife.

But Funt disputed the timeline provided by the woman to police. In text messages, he said Reich and the teen discussed how they fought to suppress their urges until she turned 18. And in graphic detail, they described having sex for the first time in July 2019, weeks after she graduated from the school.

That, Funt said, disproves the prosecution’s case: If she wasn’t a student when they began having sex, the charges don’t apply.

“The Commonwealth is relying on flawed memories,” Funt said. “[The victim] misled investigators, and tried to lead Seth to admit his guilt.”

In August 2019, as the relationship was in full swing, the victim helped Reich with a local theatre production. Her close friend, who had graduated a year earlier, was also involved in the production.

After the play ended, Reich and the two teens went to a local hotel, where Reich provided his underage former students with tequila. Prosecutors allege that Reich forced himself onto the second victim that night, undressing her against her will and hitting her as she protested his advances.

The next morning, Reich convinced the teens, whose memories were hazy due to alcohol, that they had initiated the sexual encounter, according to Acito.

“The defendant had power over these girls, power to get whatever he wanted,” she said. “Power that didn’t dissipate until months later, when the girls had spent time away from him.”

Funt, wielding text messages recovered from a WhatsApp group chat, provided an alternate version of that night.

The second victim came up with the idea of booking the hotel, he said. The teens joked about buying condoms and having sex with each other, and afterward called it the “best day ever,”Funt said.

In the months following the encounter, the production manager continued to act friendly toward Reich, his lawyer said, even inviting Reich to visit her where she attended college.

“They realized how bad these texts would make them look, so when talking to the police, they omit the key details of the event,” Funt said. “All in an attempt to rewrite history.”

The trial before Chester County Judge Analisa Sondergaard is expected to last through the week.