Former Minnesota Teacher of the Year found guilty of sexually assaulting his 14-year-old student

A Hennepin County judge found a former Minnesota Teacher of the Year guilty of sexually assaulting his student when she was 14 years old and an eighth-grader in his English class at Harvest Best Academy in Minneapolis.

Abdul Jameel Wright was found guilty of first-degree criminal sexual conduct by a person in a position of authority against a 13- to 15-year-old. The verdict came after a five-day court trial, which Wright had asked for instead of a jury trial. The assaults lasted for a year and allegedly started in September 2016, four months after Wright was named Minnesota Teacher of the Year. He was the first teacher from a charter school to win the award.

Judge Sarah West said, “The state has met its burden and has proven guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.” She said she would issue a written order on her verdict within seven days.

Wright faces up to 14 years in prison. Sentencing will take place Oct. 8.

The victim is also a party to a civil lawsuit filed against Harvest Best Academy, where Wright was employed at the time of the sexual assault.

The Minnesota Star Tribune is not naming the victim because she was a minor when the assault occurred. After the verdict, her father said, “We just feel vindicated. It’s a long time coming. There’s a sense of relief in that.”

He said the fact that Wright put the family through a trial, which required his daughter to testify “went along with him waving it in our face that he thought he was going to get away with it” and that the depth of evidence the family presented during the trial was “working in plain sight.”

After West issued her verdict, Wright’s attorney, Frederick Goetz, asked that his client be allowed to stay out of custody until sentencing. Assistant Hennepin County Attorney Evan Powell requested that Wright be taken into custody because he had been heard on phone calls talking about fleeing the state, the country or committing suicide a year before going to trial.

West ordered Wright be taken into custody because of a presumptive prison sentence in the case. A Hennepin County sheriff’s deputy placed him in handcuffs and took him to jail.

According to court records, Wright’s victim testified at trial that she exchanged phone numbers with Wright and they began extensively exchanging text messages and calls in August 2016.

The conversations quickly turned personal and escalated after Wright drove his victim home and kissed her.

From January to April 2017, Wright and his victim began touching and kissing inside his classroom and he eventually performed oral sex on her in April. Over the next four months, Wright engaged in sex with his victim inside a home where he was renting a room in the basement. His victim gave a detailed description of the basement in her testimony.

Several years later, the victim told her parents that she had been groomed and raped by her teacher. Her mother then called Wright and recorded two phone conversations where he admitted having sex with her daughter.

Court documents show that Wright testified at trial that he did not sexually penetrate his student. He had several witnesses at his school and home testify that they did not see him engaging in sexual activity with his victim. He also testified that he told the victim’s mother that he had sex with her daughter to try and appease the mother.