WASHINGTON — New details have emerged in the case of a former D.C. high school teacher arrested for the sexual abuse of his student in 2014. Evidence suggests the former teacher at the Duke Ellington School of the Arts, Mark Williams, had a drinking problem and a pattern of targeting young female students.
An affidavit released on Monday details Williams' alleged pattern of abuse.
On Oct. 16, 2018, members of the Youth and Family Services Division were contacted by a mandated reporter who told them about an email sent to 100 staff members at the school calling Mark Williams, a former teacher, a "rapist and predator."
Investigators say that email was sent by a former student who claimed his high school girlfriend had been a target of Williams. He told police his ex had been psychologically and sexually abused by her teacher for the entire last semester of her senior year. She was not named in the email.
Additionally, a friend of that student also stepped forward to corroborate her story. According to court documents, she told police, "I can attest to many of the abusive acts Mark Williams committed. The sexual assault mentioned in the email was not, I believe, the first or last time Williams assaulted a student."
The friend went on to tell investigators that Williams used to call her at night, while drunk, as a freshman in high school. She says her former teacher would try to talk about personal matters under the guise of calling about school. She says she believed he was drunk based on how he was slurring his words. Even attesting to the claim that Williams bought alcohol for his students on several occasions and encouraged them to drink.
On Oct. 19, 2028, detectives interviewed Williams who told police he was the head of the Literary Media Communications (LMC) Program at Duke Ellington School of the Arts. He says he had worked with the department in some capacity for 18 years, mostly with the junior and senior classes.
During the interview, Williams denied all sexual abuse allegations. He told investigators that over the years "students appeared to have crushes on him," but said nothing physical ever happened.
On Feb. 5, 2022, a former student of Williams came forward with sexual abuse allegations. In an interview with detectives, she described being groomed by Williams and an unwanted sexual relationship that developed between the two. The victim told detectives she would meet up with Williams, while underage, on school grounds to conduct sexual acts. In addition, she says Williams would call her almost every school night.
When she told Williams she thought of him more as a father figure and did not want a sexual relationship, investigators say the former teacher told her she was misguided "by the societal idea that a 17-year-old and 45-year-old shouldn't be together."
The affidavit alleges this abuse continued well after the student went off to college.
Several email chains, allegedly between Williams and the former student, have been made public as part of the ongoing investigation.
The affidavit asks for a DC Superior Court arrest warrant to be issued against Mark Williams.
RELATED: WANTED: Police release sketch of suspect who is repeatedly exposing himself in Bailey's Crossroad
WATCH NEXT:
This story starts in the summer of 2020. Fairfax County Public Schools hires 50-year-old Darren Lamar Thornton to work as a counselor at Glasgow Middle School.