Ex-West Whiteland Teacher Pleads Guilty In Sex Abuse Case

PHOENIXVILLE, PA -- A Chester County teacher and Phoenixville resident has pleaded guilty to institutional sexual assault, according to the Pottstown Mercury.

Katie Cross, 31, allegedly had unlawful contact and was intimate with a 17-year-old student, according to West Chester police,

Cross, a former teacher at Collegium Charter School, in West Whiteland, was allegedly discovered with one of her students, a 17-year-old male, in a parked car on the 1400 block of Scenic Drive, in East Bradford Township, on July 1, shortly after 8 p.m.

Police were contacted by a nearby resident who reported the vehicle as suspicious.

According to the criminal complaint, the resident told police it appeared that a male and female were having an “intimate encounter.”

Once found, Cross reportedly told officers she was the minor’s teacher.

According to police, the student, identified in the criminal complaint by the initials “M.P.,” told the officer that he had been in a “physical relationship” with Cross since February, adding that she had picked him up in a car and drove him to a secluded area on two occasions.

The student also related that he and Cross have “kissed passionately” in her classroom several times prior to the school day, according to police.

Cross has been fired from Collegium and reportedly will not be able to teach again.

Image of Katie Cross courtesy of the West Chester Police Department.