Main Line School Aide Who Sexually Abused Student Dies In Prison

A former Main Line high school paraprofessional who was serving time for sexually assaulting a student over the course of several months died after being found unresponsive Sunday in his Montgomery County prison cell.

Arthur Phillips, 68, of Wayne, was serving a 10-to-20-year sentence in Collegeville's Graterford prison for sexually assaulting a teenage student at Conestoga High School, where he worked as an aide.

Phillips was sentenced to prison after pleading guilty to involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, aggravated indecent assault, institutional sexual assault, and corruption of minors in December 2017.

Phillips was found unresponsive in his cell on the afternoon of Sunday, Jan. 28 and pronounced dead just 30 minutes after prison staff found him, according to prison Superintendent Cynthia Link.

An investigation into his death is ongoing, and the official cause will be determined by the Montgomery County coroner.

Phillips and the student had sexual contact 10 times in January 2017 after the two became friends.

The victim told police she refused sex with Phillips and that he then forced her. All of it happened before she turned 16.

Tredyffrin Township Police said that hundreds of messages between Phillips and the student were discovered, most of which were sexual in nature with photos included.

Phillips worked in the school's TV production studio and was with the Tredyffrin/Easttown School District since 2006.

He was arrested in April 2017.

Reporting by Kara Seymour

Image via Tredyffrin Township Police