Former William Penn school guard pleads to having sex with Penn Wood student
MEDIA COURTHOUSE PA October 20 2021 – A former William Penn School District security guard and day care center teacher pleaded guilty Monday to one count of institutional sexual assault, a third-degree felony, for engaging in a sexual relationship with a high school student beginning when she was 16 years old.
L’toray Hill, 35, of the 200 block of High Street in Sharon Hill, entered the negotiated plea before Court of Common Pleas Judge Anthony Scanlon. Assistant District Attorney Chris Boggs, head of the Special Victims Unit, said Hill would serve three to 12 months in jail with four years of sexual offender probation under the deal worked out with defense counsel Derek Steenson.
Two additional counts of institutional sexual assault and charges of indecent assault against a person less than 16 years old, criminal use of a communication facility, corruption of minors and unlawful contact with a minor were withdrawn.
“I was led on since I was young,” the victim, now an adult, said in an affidavit of probable cause for Hill’s arrest. “He manipulated me, twisted my mind and prepared me for when he made his move.”
Darby Borough Police Officer Ostap Royik met with the alleged victim in November, according to the affidavit. The teenager reported that she had been in a sexual relationship with Hill, who she identified as a security officer at Penn Wood High School, beginning when she was 16 years old.
The victim later told Sgt. Robin Clark and Detective Mark Bucci of the Delaware County Child Abuse and Exploitation Task Force that she had known Hill since she was about 8 years old and in the third grade at Walnut Hill Elementary School, where Hill was primarily assigned. She said Hill had taken a special interest in her, favoring her over other students, according to the affidavit.
The victim told the detectives that Hill referred to her at that time as “his wife and his girl,” and that these comments became more frequent and salacious as she matured. He told her “you’re all mine,” and “no one else can have you,” saying he would marry her when she was old enough, according to the affidavit.
When the victim was 14 and in middle school, Hill gave her an unsolicited kiss on the mouth and then told her, “If you really love me you would,” when she rebuffed his advance, according to the affidavit.
After the victim turned 16 in June 2017, Hill became bolder in his advances. She was volunteering at a Sharon Hill day care center where he worked as a teacher and camp counselor during the summer, and he at one point tried to get her to strip after winning a game of Connects, the affidavit says.
In late June or July of that year, she and Hill accompanied the daycare students on a bus trip to the Jersey shore, according to the affidavit. On the ride back, he allegedly told the teenager to open her legs. When she refused, Hill put his hand on her thigh and opened them himself, then fondled her under her shorts, the affidavit says.
“Mr. Hill told the victim, ‘I always had feelings for you since you were a young child,’” according to the affidavit. “Mr. Hill continued, ‘I kept my distance until it was time, when you were older, then I would feel comfortable enough to tell you how I feel.’ Mr. Hill also told the victim that he knew what he felt and wanted from her was wrong.”
Sometime in July 2017, Hill took the girl into a secluded room at the day care and had intercourse with her, the affidavit says. The sexual relationship continued for more than a year in various locations, according to the affidavit, including several times at Penn Wood Elementary School, Hill’s home and the residence of one of Hill’s relatives. During that period, the two also exchanged sexually suggestive pictures of themselves, according to the affidavit.
The teen described the relationship as a “dating situation” in the affidavit, but told detectives she broke it off in November 2018 when Hill became too controlling and jealous. She said Hill continued to contact her for sexual encounters following the “breakup,” but she stopped seeing him in 2019 when she realized he was only interested in sex, the affidavit says.
Sentencing has been set for Feb. 7. As part of the negotiated plea, Hill will have to register as a sex offender for 15 years and stay away from the victim. Hill posted $7,500 bail following his preliminarily arraignment in January, according to online court records.
