Authorities said a retired Sunnyvale school teacher was arrested on suspicion of raping a kid in 2009.
According to the Sunnyvale Department of Public Safety, 61-year-old Anthony James Phillip was arrested and booked into the Santa Clara County Main Jail on Monday on suspicion of aggravated sexual assault of a child, forcible penetration with a foreign object, and forcible penetration with a foreign object upon a child.
Phillip was a teacher at Cupertino Middle School in Sunnyvale at the time of the alleged rape, and the victim was a student there, according to authorities.
Phillip retired three years ago, but he continues to volunteer as a softball and basketball coach at Sunnyvale’s Fremont High School.
The alleged rape was reported to the Sunnyvale Department of Public Safety last week by the victim.
“This victim was able to provide exceptionally specific detail as well as the chronology of events,” Capt. Craig Anderson stated during a news conference, despite the fact that the incident occurred in 2009.
Phillip made a “deliberate effort” to create a relationship with the girl, according to Anderson, and eventually directed her to a classroom closet, where he undressed and assaulted her.
Prior to his arrest, Phillip spoke with an investigator and “confessed to having sex with this victim and admitted to many of the information the victim had provided with us last week,” according to Anderson.
Authorities are concerned that there may be more victims, according to Anderson.
“Generally speaking, many suspects that are committing crimes against children like this, especially sexual crimes, they have other victims out there,” he said. “That’s just based upon our experience. But there were some very deliberate and almost brazen actions by the suspect at the time when this crime occurred that leads us to believe that this may not have been the first time — or even the last time — that he committed such an act.”
