Former Teacher Raped Student, Uploaded It To Internet: Prosecutor
SKOKIE, IL — A former teacher and scholastic bowl coach at two North Shore schools was ordered held without bond Wednesday on charges of possession of child pornography and the sexual assault of a former student. Prosecutors said he filmed himself raping the former student and uploaded the video onto the internet.
Mathew J. Laird, 32, of the 3900 block of Triumvera Drive in Glenview, was arrested at his home shortly after noon on Tuesday in connection with an investigation that began last month, police said. He had previously taught at North Shore Academy in Highland Park, Loyola Academy in Wilmette and had coached at Stevenson High School in Lincolnshire.
Last month, administrators at all three schools notified their alumni community that Laird was under investigation for internet crimes against children.
At a bond hearing Wednesday, Assistant State's Attorney Andreana Turano said a woman reported Laird had raped her after being notified of the investigation. The woman, who Laird had coached in extracurricular activities starting her first year of high school in 2008, described a sexual relationship that began while she was under 18 and included sex on school ground and at people's homes.
Laird provided the student alcohol and told her to keep the relationship a secret, Turano said. After graduating from high school the teen arranged to meet Laird on a visit home during a break from college in the 2012-13 school year. Turano said the woman agreed to spend the night with Laird but made it abundantly clear to him that she did not want to have sex with him.
She awoke to Laird on top of her and sexually assaulting her, according to Turano, who said Laird had videotaped the rape and uploaded it onto the internet.
Laird was a scholastic bowl moderator at Loyola from 2004 to 2008 and again from 2010 to 2014. He taught English at the school from 2011 to 2014. At the time police executed a search warrant at his house, he was in his second year as a teacher at North Shore Academy in Highland Park, where he began as a teacher's aide in 2014.
North Shore Academy is part of the North Shore Special Education District, which serves students from 18 public elementary and high school districts in the area. District administrators said Laird was immediately banned from campus and placed on administrative leave before being fired earlier this month after refusing to comply with the investigation. His attorney said he had been employed by Amazon at the time of his arrest.
According to police and prosecutors, detectives from the Cook County Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force got a warrant to search Laird's home last month after receiving a tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children that someone had been uploading child pornography to a website used for "sharing adult pornographic materials" from an internet address leading to his house, where he lived alone.
Police seized one laptop and two flash drives containing hundreds of images and videos of child pornography, some including sexual acts with children as young as 3 to 4, according to prosecutors. Laird admitted it was his, Turano said.
Detectives are attempting to identify people in "several hundred images both pornographic and non-pornographic of current and former female high school student," Glenview police said in a release. (Police encouraged anyone with information for investigators to contact their tip line at 847-901-6055 or by emailing gpdtipline@glenview.il.us.)
"From the minute we learned of this investigation, we have worked closely to to provide computers photos, personnel files" to help investigators, said Kurt Schneider, superintendent of the North Shore Special Education District. "At this time we have no information that confirms that North Shore Academy students are involved."
A Loyola Academy spokesperson did not immediately respond to questions about the allegations described by prosecutors and Laird's time as scholastic bowl moderator.
Laird is currently charged with possession of child pornography of children under 13, dissemination of child pornography of child pornography of a child under 13, criminal sexual assault – by virtue of his position of authority as a high school staffer, criminal sexual assault – for non-consensual sex and non-consensual dissemination of private sexual images. Prosecutors said he faces up to 120 years in prison if convicted on all charges.
Arguing in favor of his client's release ahead of trial, defense attorney Ralph Meczyk argued Laird was unlikely to flee, since he had already known there was a strong likelihood he would be arrested after police executed a search warrant at his home. Meczyk, who had also earlier objected to the prosecution's "very lurid" depiction of the allegations against his client, said Laird has never been arrested and "never been a danger to the community."
Cook County Circuit Judge Anjana Hansen rejected Mecyzk's request to allow his client to be released ahead of trial under the strict conditions – including being forbidden from using the internet, cell phones or contacting minors or former students – that Turano said would be necessary, finding him a "real and present threat." Laird is due back in court Tuesday, when Mecyk said he would ask for the bond to be reviewed.
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