Former D.C. teacher charged with sexually abusing student

A former teacher at Duke Ellington School of the Arts in Northwest Washington has been charged with sexual abuse of a 17-year-old student in 2014, according to D.C. police and prosecutors.

Authorities identified the former teacher as Mark Anthony Williams, now 56, who lives in Alexandria, Va. The D.C. school system said it has not employed Williams since 2019.

Police said the former student, now in her mid-20s, came forward in 2022. Court records show an investigation began in 2018 when an email circulated at the school alleging Williams had been sexually involved with at least one student for about one semester.

The email had been sent by the former student’s high school boyfriend, who told police she had confided in him, according to an arrest affidavit filed in D.C. Superior Court. The email did not name the former student, the affidavit says.

Detectives interviewed Williams in 2018 and said he “denied being involved in a sexual or physical relationship with any student, current or former,” according to the affidavit.

D.C. police said in a statement that after the former student contacted them in January 2022, detectives learned Williams had traveled abroad.

Police said he recently returned to the United States and was arrested on a warrant by U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents on Saturday at Baltimore-Washington International Marshall Airport. The customs agency said it apprehended Williams at a departure gate as he was preparing to board a flight to Iceland. The agency said Williams is a naturalized U.S. citizen who was born in Guyana.

A D.C. Superior Court judge on Tuesday released Williams and set his next court date for Dec. 11. The judge ordered him to be monitored by a GPS tracking device. He must also stay away from Duke Ellington and the former student, surrender his passport and not travel out of the D.C. area. The judge also told Williams that he cannot teach, tutor or supervise anyone under 20 years old.

Efforts to reach Williams, who has not yet entered a plea, were not successful. His attorney, Shawn Sukumar, did not respond to a request for comment.

Duke Ellington’s principal, Sandi Logan, sent a letter to parents this week noting that Williams left the school four years ago, but she did not describe the circumstances of his departure. A school spokesman said administrators “fully cooperated with law enforcement’s investigation.”

The former student told police she first met Williams when she was a sophomore in the theater arts program, and she later was in one of his playwriting classes, according to the affidavit. At the time, Williams was in the school’s literary media and communications department. Police said she was 17 at the time; he was in his mid to late-40s.

Police said that Williams coached her in writing and theater production, and said the alleged sexual contact lasted for about a semester, according to the affidavit.

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