CPS Teacher Accused Of Sex Abuse, Child Porn To Remain Jailed

SKOKIE, IL — A Chicago Public Schools teacher accused of sexually abusing a student over a period of two years was ordered Thursday to remain held without bail. Prosecutors said they met when the student was 12 years old before having sex and exchanging naked photos.

Jason Pierre Gil, 42, of the Belmont Gardens neighborhood in Chicago, was arrested Sunday by Skokie police and charged with seven felony counts including aggravated criminal sexual assault, soliciting and possessing child pornography, criminal sexual abuse and grooming.

According to prosecutors, Gil started tutoring the student after regular school hours while she was a student in sixth grade. They began communicating over text messages and in 2017, they kissed while in a school classroom. She was 13 and he was 41 at the time.

"After this, the nature of the text messages between [Gil] and the [student] changed and they began to exchange naked pictures of themselves, [with Gil] frequently soliciting [the girl] to send naked pictures of herself," Cook County Assistant State's Attorney Jasmine Morgan said at a bond hearing Wednesday.

Between 2017 and 2019, Gil and the student met outside of school multiple times to have sex. "These incidents took place in [Gil's] car at times and also at [the girl's] home when her parents were not present," Morgan said.

Gil would often pick the girl up and take her shopping for clothes and shoes without her parents' knowledge, according to the prosecutor. The girl confided to a close friend about the relationship. The friend told her mother, who contacted the Skokie Police Department.

Skokie police said it opened an investigation into Gil on Saturday and arrested him the following day — the same day he was reported missing by Chicago police.

Once in custody, Gil confessed to having sex with the student and soliciting and possessing child pornography of the girl, Morgan said. Authorities were able to extract thousands of text messages between the two, which "corroborated the sexual encounters" with the girl.

Defense attorney Adam Sheppard said Gil has never been arrested before and had been very cooperative with police. He said Gil had a master's degree from the University of Chicago and two children, aged 12 and 9, and there had been no allegations of any untoward conduct involving them.

Gil is employed as a part-time bilingual teacher at Waters Elementary School, a Lincoln Square magnet and performing arts elementary school, according to Chicago Public Schools records. His now-deleted class website said he had been teaching at the school for more than 5 years and had taught in nearly all grades but "really enjoy[ed] the middle school."

CPS released a statement saying Gil was immediately suspended when it learned of the allegations and would look to terminate him "should these allegations be substantiated." It said an inspector general's investigation has been opened.

The allegations are "disturbing on a whole bunch of levels," Circuit Judge John Lyke said at the hearing. As a CPS teacher, Gil had been entrusted with the care and security of students.

"It's a special calling to be a teacher where parents trust you to safeguard their children, not place them in harm's way," Lyke said.

"There's no doubt in my mind he knew how young this person was because she was in sixth grade and he was her teacher, and on the other hand, his lawyer tells me that he has a master's degree from the University of Chicago — one of the most prestigious schools in the country," the judge said, according to a transcript of the hearing. "More disturbing he has two children of his own, 9 and 13, roughly the same age — the oldest one — of the alleged victim in this case."

On Tuesday, Lyke found that Gil poses a continuing threat to the community and his former student and ordered him held without bond. On Thursday, Circuit Judge Anjana Hansen upheld the no-bond order and Gil was ordered to remain jailed until a preliminary hearing or return of indictment March 5.

Earlier: CPS Teacher Charged With Sexual Abuse Of 14-Year-Old Skokie Girl »