Former Wilmington teacher faces 47-year minimum after rape conviction

Christopher Crisona, a former elementary school teacher in Wilmington, Delaware, was convicted last week of repeatedly raping a child. The verdict concluded a yearslong investigation into abuse that occurred during the 1994 and 1995 school year.

On Oct. 22, a jury found Crisona, 58, guilty of three counts of unlawful sexual intercourse. He was also found guilty of two counts of unlawful sexual contact, one count of unlawful sexual penetration, and one count of continuous sexual abuse of a child. The investigation determined that the abuse took place between Sept. 1, 1994, and June 15, 1995.

At the time of the offenses, Crisona worked at St. Thomas the Apostle School in Wilmington. Officials stated that he was removed from the school the following year after a student complaint. After leaving that position, Crisona taught at St. Matthew’s in Wilmington in 1999, Corpus Christi in 1999, and St. Hedwig’s in 2000.

Attorney General Kathy Jennings issued a statement regarding the verdict. “Sexual abuse of any kind is unconscionable; for it to come at the hands of individuals in positions of power and sacred trust is a horror unto its own,” Jennings said. She added that she could not imagine the suffering the victim endured or the bravery it took to come forward.

The case emerged from an anonymous report to the Diocese of Wilmington. The report alleged that the same victim had been abused by Father John Taggart and Father John Francis O’Brien. O’Brien has since died. Taggart is accused of abusing the child during the seventh and eighth grades and continuing the abuse after the child began high school.

Taggart worked at the church from 1987 through 1998. In January 1999, officials said he was transferred to St. John the Apostle church in Milford, Delaware. Taggart is scheduled for trial on Jan. 11, 2027, where he faces multiple charges connected to the same child rape case.

Crisona faces a minimum mandatory sentence of 47 years in prison. A sentencing date has not yet been scheduled.