Philly high school teacher groomed student into having sexual relationship, police say

A Willow Grove man was arrested this week and accused of having an inappropriate sexual relationship with a former student at a Philadelphia school, police said Friday.

Larry Perry, 51, has been charged with institutional sexual assault, endangering the welfare of children, corruption of minors, sexual abuse of children, and related offenses, police in Abington Township said.

Perry was arrested Thursday and remained in custody at the Montgomery County prison with cash bail set at $100,000. It was unclear Friday whether he had retained a lawyer.

The investigation into Perry began in July, when the woman approached Abington police to report an assault, according to the department. The former student, who is now 26, said Perry taught her while she attended Parkway Center Middle College, a public high school in the city, according to the affidavit of probable cause filed in his arrest.

Megan Lello, a spokesperson for the Philadelphia School District, said the district has barred Perry, an English and social studies teacher, from district property, and is cooperating with the investigation.

The victim told police that Perry struck up the relationship with her when she was 13 through “flirtatious emails and text messages."

After the girl turned 15, Perry began driving her to his home in Willow Grove, where they had sex on multiple occasions, police said.

He also provided her with a prepaid cell phone so they could “communicate discreetly” according to investigators. Perry allegedly solicited nude photographs of the girl through the phone, which he used to communicate with her during her junior and senior years at the high school.