A MN Teacher of the Year is accused of sexual abuse. It’s not the first time.
MN Teacher of the Year accused of abuse
A former Minnesota Teacher of the Year is charged with sexually abusing a student, and it isn't the first time he's faced sexual abuse allegations. FOX 9 Investigator Nathan O'Neal has the story.
MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) - A former Minnesota Teacher of the Year now charged with sexually abusing a student previously faced allegations that he sexually assaulted two of his co-workers, according to police records obtained by the FOX 9 Investigators.
What we know:
Police and school records obtained by the FOX 9 Investigators detail more disturbing allegations involving Abdul Wright. The former Minnesota Teacher of the Year is scheduled to stand trial this summer on criminal sexual conduct charges. He is accused of grooming and sexually abusing one of his middle school students at Best Academy in Minneapolis in 2016. Some of the abuse took place inside the charter school, according to court records.
Police records show two former teachers at Best Academy told police they were also assaulted by Wright inside the school several years earlier.
What they're saying:
One teacher told police and school leadership that Wright assaulted her inside a classroom in 2012.
"At one point he picked me up physically and pushed me against a desk," she said in a recent interview with the FOX 9 Investigators.
"I could feel his breath on my neck. He lifted my shirt, he put his mouth on me," she said. " I told him he needed to stop. He put my hand on his crotch and I told him no repeatedly."
She recorded a conversation with Wright in which he acknowledged that he should have stopped.
"When you told me to stop, right there is when I should have stopped," Wright said in the recording.
Wright told police he was getting "mixed messages" from his co-worker and that he had "never done anything like this before."
But as police were investigating, another teacher came forward and said she had also been assaulted by Wright inside the school.
"It was traumatizing," the second teacher said.
The FOX 9 Investigators agreed not to identify the teachers due to the sexual nature of the allegations.
The other side:
Wright was not criminally charged in the case involving his co-workers.
Wright’s attorney said in a recent statement that "the allegations against Mr. Wright are absolutely unfounded. We look forward to vigorously contesting them in court."
But after the second teacher came forward to police, Wright admitted they regularly had consensual sex inside the school.
"Easily over 25 times," Wright said in the recorded police interview. "Easily over 25–30 times."
That teacher confirmed some of their sexual interactions were consensual but said she also feared Wright.
"I didn't want to be alone in my classroom because I was afraid that Abdul would come in."
Police and school records show Best Academy was aware of the allegations at the time.
Dig deeper:
Wright resigned from Best Academy in 2012 and the school indicated in emails he would "not be reinstated as an employee of Best Academy for the remainder of this school year."
However, Wright returned to the school about a month later.
The teacher who first reported Wright to police said Best Academy offered to have a janitor escort her around school so she could "feel safe" coming to work.
"It was this acknowledgment of you ‘you don’t feel safe – and this isn’t a safe person for you to be around – but we’re still going to bring him back to the school,’" she said.
What we don't know:
When contacted for comment, school leadership would not comment on why Wright was allowed to return to Best Academy shortly after those 2012 accusations.
The backstory:
Wright continued to teach at the school for several years and was named Minnesota Teacher of the Year in 2016.
Months afterward police say he began grooming his 14-year-old student and sexually abused her for nearly a year. Wright was charged last year and has pleaded not guilty to criminal sexual conduct with a minor.
The former student recently filed a lawsuit against Best Academy claiming the school "knew or should have known that Wright was a danger to children."
The student’s father previously told the FOX 9 Investigators he alerted the school of his concerns about Wright in 2017, but they were rebuffed by the school’s founder, Eric Mahmoud. Wright again continued to teach at Best Academy for several more years.
What's next:
Best Academy is now looking for a new director after its board voted to remove Mahmoud in late March. The school is currently facing two lawsuits related to allegations of sexual abuse by former teachers.
Wright’s criminal trial is scheduled for June.