An information technology specialist for the Valley View School District has been charged with groping and sharing sexually explicit materials with a minor, according to charges filed in court.
William James Christian, 30, of 303 Coolidge St., Dupont, was arrested Tuesday on charges of unlawful contact with a minor and disseminating sexual materials to a minor.
Valley View Superintendent Brian Durkin said Wednesday that Christian has been placed on administrative leave pending school board action on his employment.
According to the complaint filed by state police, the victim thought of Christian as a friend who lived nearby and would take him to a train club in Allentown.
However, Christian began having sexually explicit conversations with the victim and groping the boy’s thighs and buttocks, police said.
When the boy told Christian to stop, the touching ended for a few weeks but then resumed, police said. The boy reported that Christian “doesn’t take no as an answer,” according to the complaint.
The charges further allege the victim heard Christian making inappropriate comments about male and female students with his job as an information technology specialist for Valley View.
Christian is also accused of sending the boy pornographic images via Facebook messenger.
Troopers charged Christian with three counts of unlawful contact with a minor, 19 counts of disseminating sexual images to a minor, and one count each of indecent assault of a minor, corruption of a minor and endangering the welfare of a minor.
Magisterial District Judge Alexandra Kokura Kravitz arraigned Christian on the charges Tuesday afternoon and set bail at $125,000.
Christian was being held at the Luzerne County Correctional Facility with a preliminary hearing scheduled for May 13.