By Chrisleen Herard,
Special to the AFRO
A former D.C. teacher once again tried to flee the country in an effort to avoid an arrest following allegations that he sexually abused a 17-year-old student in 2014. While at the Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport (BWI), the teacher, identified as 56-year-old Mark Anthony Williams, was taken into custody and charged with first-degree sexual abuse of a high school student. Williams was previously the head of Literary Media and Communications Department at the Duke Ellington School of the Arts.
He allegedly sexually assaulted one of his students from Jan. 1 to May 3, 2014. Four years later, an email written by the victim’s boyfriend at the time was sent to more than 100 school leaders. The email accused Williams of engaging in sexual activity with a 17-year-old student, who was left unnamed.
When detectives interviewed Williams in 2018, he denied the accusations and departed from the school the following year. Investigations revealed allegations from at least one other student dating back to 2004 for which he was briefly placed on administrative leave.
In 2022, the former high school student came forward to D.C. authorities. She informed them that she initially met Wiliams, who was in his mid to late 40s at the time, when she was a sophomore in the theater arts program. She later became one of his students in his playwriting class.
When presuming the investigation, detectives learned that Williams had traveled out of the country until alerts notified authorities of his return on Nov. 16. The D.C. Superior Court issued a warrant for his arrest the next day and, on Nov. 19, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency arrested Williams at a departure gate as he was attempting to flee the country to Iceland.
The judge released Williams and scheduled his court date on Dec. 11. The judge ordered that he be monitored by a GPS tracking device. Williams has also been ordered to stay away from the Duke Ellington School and has been prohibited from teaching anyone under the age of 20.
Authorities ask that anyone with more information contact them at 202-727-9099 or utilize the department’s tip line by sending a message to 50411 to remain anonymous.
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