Tech Teacher Who Met Boy Online Sentenced to Jail

ELLICOTT CITY, MD – A man who taught technology at multiple schools in Howard County will have to register as a sex offender and serve one year in jail for sexually assaulting a teen he met online, according to the Howard County State’s Attorney’s Office.

Christopher Russell Fox, 37, formerly of the 9000 block of Orpin Road in Randallstown, pleaded not guilty to a third-degree sex offense with an agreed statement of facts.

Fox, who is no longer employed by the Howard County Public School System, had previously held teaching assignments at Atholton High School, Folly Quarter Middle School and Mount View Middle School, according to police. In addition, Fox was a basketball coach at Glenelg High School from 2006 to 2007, police said.

Related: Former Atholton Teacher Sentenced for Sex Acts

Authorities said the sex offense charge stemmed from an encounter with a 14-year-old boy that began online and ended with the assault on July 10, 2014. Fox told the boy he was 16 years old, according to police.

“He went on a teen dating website, he posted false pictures and he lied in person [about his true age],” Assistant State’s Attorney Jennifer Ritter said in court.

The boy said he and Fox engaged in various sex acts when they met, and the teen notified police afterward because he had been expecting to meet a 16-year-old, according to officials.

“At your cajoling, a 14-year-old snuck out of his bedroom in the middle of the night to meet you on a public tennis court,” Howard County Circuit Court Judge Timothy J. McCrone said. “It’s the kind of thing that some boys don’t come home from.”

Although Fox’s attorney argued for a suspended sentence, Judge McCrone handed down a five-year sentence with all but one year suspended, according to the state’s attorney.

When he is released, Fox will be on supervised probation for five years and will have to register as a sex offender.