LANCASTER — Police have charged a former School District of Lancaster employee with institutional sexual assault, corruption of minors and other offenses stemming from the alleged inappropriate contact he had with a student at the school earlier this year, a criminal complaint states.
Javian Sanchez, 25, of the 600 block of Wyncroft Lane, is also charged with unlawful contact with minors and criminal use of a communication facility in connection to the incident, which the Lancaster Bureau of Police began investigating in July.
Sanchez, who was employed by the School District of Lancaster as a Arts System Technician at JP McCaskey High School at the time, initially denied the allegations when first questioned by police on August 15, according to the criminal complaint. Sanchez said the allegations were a rumor which he believed was started by another student, a 17-year-old girl.
Police interviewed that student on Oct. 24. The girl told police that she and Sanchez were acquainted because he assisted in the instruction of a stage production class she took during the previous school year. The student said she and Sanchez exchanged text messages that led her to believe he wanted to have sex with her, according to the criminal complaint. Police examined the student’s phone and recovered a message, purportedly from Sanchez, that asked the student if she wanted to be his “hoe and BFF.”
Sanchez also allegedly asked the student to provide photos of her in her prom dress, offered to take her to the prom next year, and acknowledged that such and act would probably be illegal, police say.
On Oct. 29, the criminal complaint states, police interviewed a second student, who was also a 17-year-old girl who was in the stage production class with Sanchez during the previous school year. She told police she and Sanchez began talking, and she thought of him as a big brother. The communication eventually led to them kissing in the high school auditorium. Sanchez eventually added the girl on Snapchat, and provided her with his home address.
The second student said she and Sanchez had sex in Sanchez’s home on several occasions between June and July, according to the criminal complaint.
Sanchez was arrested Saturday and transported to Lancaster County Prison when he failed to post $100,000 bail.
The School District of Lancaster said in a statement that Sanchez, who was hired by the school on Feb. 6, 2017, is currently suspended without pay pending his dismissal.
“He has not been on campus this school year, and will not return,” the school district’s statement said.
