Montgomery Co. teacher sentenced after telling 13-year-old girl he wanted to kiss her

A former Montgomery County middle school teacher is behind bars after admitting to sexually soliciting a teen student.

John Richards, 57, spent ten years teaching students at Blockson Middle School in the Norristown Area School District.

During his time as a teacher, he is accused of targeting a 13-year-old student and wanting her attention.

On Monday, April 6, that teen faced Richards and told the judge how his actions affected her.

She explained that she is only a minor and never asked for what happened to occur.

According to police, Richards created a message on his phone then translated that message into Spanish. He then called the victim up to the front of the class and showed her the message on his personal phone that said he wanted to kiss her twice during an upcoming class outing.

“The defendant in this case had sexually solicited her and was attempting to get her to engage in sexual contact with him, trying to plan it for a future date,” prosecutor Bradley Deckel said. “She immediately read the message that he wrote to her using Google Translate and knew it was wrong.”

The student captured the message via video on her personal cell phone, court documents said. She told police that her friends in class encouraged her to record interactions with Richards – who was her science teacher, court documents note – because he had been acting “weird.”

After the interaction, police said the student called her father, the principal and the school resource officer to report the incident.

Prosecutors said that if the teen had not reported the incident so quickly, this case could have been very different.

Officials asked the judge for Richards to face jail time because he planned his actions.

Before the sexual solicitation, Richards bought the teen a Christmas gift and delivered it to her house.

“Every teacher in our community is entrusted with the safety and the education of our children. We let them go on school buses and we don’t see them for hours a day at a time hoping and trusting these people to educate them and take care of them,” Deckel said.

Richards told the court that he was deeply sorry and said his actions were horrific.

He asked the judge to spare him of time behind bards so he could provide for his family, but the judge said his actions warranted significant punishment.

“I think he’s glad that he can put this behind him and hopefully find some peace for the victim,” defense attorney Andrew Levin said.

The judge said that Richards has been undergoing counseling since the messages were reported.

Richards was sentenced to nine to 23 months in jail.