A former Chester County teacher was convicted of sexually assaulting a student

A former teacher at a Chester County evangelical school was convicted late Wednesday of sexually assaulting a first grader there in 2007.

Randy Lee Boston, a former pastor and fifth-grade teacher at the West Chester Christian School, was found guilty of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, indecent assault, unlawful contact with a minor, and related offenses by a jury after about three hours of deliberation. The victim told police that when he was in first grade at the school, Boston forced him to engage in sex acts in a room inside the school.

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Boston, 64, of Shikshinny, Luzerne County, denied the allegations, testifying during his three-day trial before County Court Judge Patrick Carmody that he had barely any interaction with the alleged victim while he was enrolled at the school. But in an interview with police, a recording of which was played in court, Boston admitted to having sexual desires “connected to young boys” and being attracted to their bodies.

That, Assistant District Attorney Christine Abatemarco said, would be “one heck of a coincidence,” if the accuser chose Boston to be the scapegoat of a fake assault.

“Maybe he was under stress during that conversation,” Abatemarco said of Boston in her closing arguments. “But no amount of stress would force someone to volunteer the fact that they were attracted to little boys.”

Boston’s attorney, Evan Kelly, told jurors in his closing arguments Wednesday that the accuser’s recollection of the assault was inconsistent and missing key details, including when exactly the assault occurred. He said prosecutors were trying to “bootstrap” their case, waving away the gaps in their evidence by saying the accuser was deeply traumatized by the assault.

Kelly noted that the accuser had struggled with anxiety and addiction to drugs and alcohol in his adult life, and never revealed the alleged assault during years of therapy.

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The man did not tell his family about the assault until 2019, prosecutors say, when his father confronted him about his behavior after a DUI crash. His family, in turn, told law enforcement officials.

“It’s a tragedy that he’s going through this,” Kelly said. “But it’s also a tragedy that Randy Boston is sitting here, facing charges based on charges corroborated by partial memories.”

Abatemarco said the victim was credible, noting that he vividly recalled many details of the assault from 15 years ago. An expert in child abuse testified that other details, such as exact dates, can be lost when a person experiences something traumatic.

The victim told police Boston was reprimanding him on the day of the assault for sticking his tongue out at a female student. He said Boston then took him to a secluded room and assaulted him, before returning him to a classroom to apologize to the girl.

He was reluctant to report the assault to his parents over the years, Abatemarco said, because he saw Boston as an authority figure, and feared he’d get into more trouble. She said Boston, a married pastor who is respected in his community, had more motive to lie about the assault than the victim.

“[The victim] has a right to justice,” Abatemarco said. “He’s been living with this since he was 6 years old. After 13 years of holding this in, he spoke up.”