Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Former teacher charged with sex abuse
Prosecutors say crimes occurred from 2008 to 2010
EXTON » A former teacher, a program assistant at the Church Farm School in Exton was arrested this week on charges of sexual abuse of a minor.
Marc V. Spera, 57, who currently lives in Florida and worked as a teacher at the Church Farm School from 1995 to 2010, where he also lived on campus, was charged with multiple counts of statutory sexual assault, unlawful contact with a minor, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse and related charges.
According to the Chester County District Attorney’s Office, the investigation began after an adult reported late last year that he was sexually abused by Spera when he was a boarding student at the Church Farm School while he was in seventh and eighth grades from 2008-2010.
The victim told Chester County detectives that the sexual abuse occurred in the Spera’s apartment, which was located on campus at the school. The victim further said that Spera would often give him back and body rubs in his apartment. He later gave the victim a video game console, a headset and a video game. The victim reported that while they were apart during the summer months between seventh and eighth grade they would remain in constant contact through text messages, social media and while playing video games.
When the victim returned to school for eighth grade in the fall, Spera was his computer teacher. The victim told detectives that over the course of his eighth grade year at school, Spera performed oral sex on him and he touched the his genitals with his hands on more than 10 occasions. Other sexual assaults happened throughout the school year in the defendant’s apartment, detectives said.
The victim reported that the defendant gave him a better
grade than he deserved in computer class and he was given a brand new computer system and other items by Spera throughout the school year. During a recent conversation with the victim, Spera admitted to engaging in sexual acts with the victim.
“Our office will continue to root out all child predators until this community is safe,” said District Attorney
Deb Ryan. “When anyone, especially a teacher who is in a position of authority and trust, abuses a child, we know the life-long damage that can occur. We will hold all of those accountable who perpetrate crimes against our vulnerable youth.”
Spera worked as a program assistant at the Freedoms Foundation at Valley Forge from 1993-1995, the Robinson School in Puerto Rico from 2010-2012, the Hampshire Country School in New Hampshire from 2013-2015, the Squaw Valley Academy in California from
2015-2016, and the Admiral Farragut Academy in St. Petersburg, Florida.
As with all program assistants employed by Freedoms Foundation, Spera would have been considered a per diem employee, working only occasional programs, and was not a regular member of staff at the foundation.
He volunteered with the Boy Scouts of America from 1980 to present all over the country.
West Whiteland Township Police Department assisted in the investigation,
as well as the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the St. Petersburg Police Department .
Spera was arrested on June 2 in St. Petersburg, Florida, by agents with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement by a warrant issued by Chester County. He waived extradition and will be brought back to Chester County on June 12, 2020 by the West Whiteland Township Police Department.
The Church Farm School is an independent boarding and day school for boys in grades 9-12.