Judge finds school official guilty
Ex-employee of The Perkiomen School had improper contact with student; will be sentenced at later date
“He didn’t know he was talking to (the boy). He didn’t know he was talking to someone under 18.” — Defense lawyer V. Erik Petersen
NORRISTOWN » The former director of communications for a private school in Pennsburg has been convicted of charges he had inappropriate social media communications with a 15-year-old boy at the school.
Edwin Desean Stubbs, 26, most recently of Newark N.J., was convicted in Montgomery County Court of charges of unlawful contact with a minor, criminal use of a communication facility and corruption of a minor in connection with incidents that occurred between March and May 2016 while he was director of communications for The Perkiomen School, a private college preparatory high school in Pennsburg. Judge Thomas C. Branca rendered the verdict after a non-jury trial.
The judge acquitted Stubbs of a more serious charge of criminal solicitation to commit sex abuse of children in connection with the incident.
Branca deferred sentencing until Jan. 30 so that Stubbs can be evaluated by the Pennsylvania Sexual Offenders Assessment Board, which will determine if he meets criteria to be classified as a sexually violent predator. Those classified as predators face more stringent restrictions under the law, including a
lifetime requirement to report their addresses to police and community notification about their living arrangements.
Stubbs, who remains free on bail pending sentencing, faces a possible maximum sentence of 9½ to 19 years in prison on the charges. However, state sentencing guidelines could allow for a lesser sentence.
With the charges, prosecutors
alleged Stubbs had inappropriate communications of a sexual nature with the 15 year old boy, including asking the boy if he measured his genitals. Stubbs, prosecutors alleged, used the social media application “Snapchat” to communicate electronically with the boy.
“This was no mistake. He took advantage of his relationship he had with (the victim) and he took it too far,” county Assistant District Attorney Erika Lyn Wevodau argued to the judge during the trial. “He
knows exactly who he’s Snapchatting with.”
But defense lawyer V. Erik Petersen argued prosecutors did not have sufficient evidence to prove that Stubbs knew he was talking to a 15 year old boy.
“He didn’t know he was talking to (the boy). He didn’t know he was talking to someone under 18. He thought he was in a conversation with another adult gay man,” Petersen argued, claiming the investigation by authorities was lacking. “There’s no evidence. They simply
took the word of a 15 year old boy.”
The boy did testify during the trial.
The investigation began May 19, 2016, when county child social workers received a tip concerning suspected child abuse, a report that a juvenile student at The Perkiomen School at received sexually inappropriate electronic messages from a member of the school’s administrative staff, according to the criminal complaint.
The boy told investigators that he met Stubbs around
October 2015 through an after-school club, befriended Stubbs and viewed him as a mentor, according to the arrest affidavit filed by Upper Perk Police Officer R. Matthew Boaman. At some point during the winter of 2015 the boy and Stubbs exchanged Snapchat user information and began using that application to communicate electronically, Boaman alleged.
The boy disclosed that in the spring of 2016 Stubbs sent him inappropriate messages through Snapchat and that he took a “screen
shot” of the Snapchat conversation. During the conversation, Stubbs allegedly claimed he had seven or eight beers and was looking for “content,” according to the criminal complaint.
Shortly thereafter in the message Stubbs asked the boy if he ever measured his “junk,” a slang term for genitals, according to the criminal complaint.
“(The victim) said he knew the conversation with Stubbs was inappropriate, which is why he took a screen shot of it,” Boaman wrote in the arrest affidavit.