Former Teacher Sentenced To 35 Years For Rape, Child Pornography

SKOKIE, IL — A former high school teacher and scholastic bowl coach was sentenced to 35 years in prison after admitting to raping at least one former student and possessing child pornography.

Mathew Laird, 33, is a former teacher at North Shore Academy in Highland Park and Loyola Academy in Wilmette, according to police and school officials. He was also a quiz bowl coach and club sponsor at Stevenson High School in Lincolnshire.

Laird pleaded guilty Wednesday to charges of aggravated criminal sexual assault, criminal sexual assault and possession of child pornography in exchange for prosecutors dropping dozens of other charges.

The former teacher was arrested last October following an investigation triggered by a tip in January 2018 that someone had uploaded child pornography on a website normally used for adult pornography. Detectives from a Cook County task force got a search warrant after tracing the upload to an internet address associated with his Glenview home, where he lived alone, authorities said.

Investigators seized electronic devices containing hundreds of videos and images of child pornography, some including sexual acts with children under 5, as well as several hundred images of current and former female high school students, "both pornographic and non-pornographic," according to police and prosecutors. Detectives began working on identifying the women and girls pictured in Laird's illicit collection.

Laird started working at Loyola as scholastic bowl moderator in 2004. He taught English there from 2011 to 2014. In 2014, he began as a teacher's aide at North Shore Academy — part of the North Shore Special Education District and including students from 18 public school districts in the area. Laird became a teacher at the school in the 2016-17 year and was fired in October 2018 after refusing to cooperate with an investigation into his conduct.

According to prosecutors, Laird began a sexual relationship with a high school freshman in 2008 while working at Loyola. She was under 18 and Laird was her coach in extracurricular activities. After she graduated and moved away for college, she agreed to spend the night at Laird's house while on a visit home, making it clear that she had no interest in having sex with him, prosecutors said. The woman said she woke up to find Laird sexually assaulting her, and Laird was found to have recorded a video of the rape and uploaded it onto the internet, prosecutors said.

After Laird was ordered jailed with no bail on charges of raping the former high school student, investigators found evidence of additional victims, according to prosecutors. He was subsequently indicted on additional counts of sexual assault and possession of child pornography before entering his guilty plea on April 17.

Laird had faced four criminal cases containing about 70 felony counts combined. In each of the cases, he pleaded guilty to one count in exchange for prosecutors dropping the rest of them. Laird was sentenced to 25 years for one count of aggravated sexual assault, 6 years for child pornography, 4 years for another sexual assault and 2 years for another count of child pornography. The first three sentences were ordered to be served consecutively. He was credited with 176 days in jail and must serve 85% of the 35-year sentence.

In an email to current and former students announcing the conclusion of the case, leaders of Loyola Academy said the school had fully cooperated with Glenview police and Cook County prosecutors with the investigation into Laird's inappropriate relationship with a student.

"This is an appalling violation of trust by a former member of our community," said President Pat McGrath and Principal Charles Heintz. "We are deeply saddened and heartbroken for the victims who have suffered because of Mr. Laird; they have demonstrated tremendous courage and strength by coming forward."

Read more: Former Teacher Raped Student, Uploaded It To Internet: Prosecutor