Former Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) teacher John Vigna, whose conviction for the child sexual abuse of students at Cloverly Elementary School in Silver Spring was overturned in 2023, pleaded guilty Friday to one count of sexual child abuse and three counts of sexual abuse of a minor in the case.
As part of a plea agreement entered in Montgomery County Circuit Court, the Montgomery County State’s Attorney’s Office will request a 30-year suspended prison sentence with probation supervised by the COMET Unit (Collaborative Offender Management/Enforced Treatment) of the Maryland Division of Parole and Probation.
Vigna, who is scheduled to be sentenced May 7, will be prohibited from having unsupervised contact with minors and will be required to register as a sex offender, according to a release from the state’s attorney’s office.
The agreement covers crimes Vigna committed between 2001 and 2016 as well as new charges that were filed against him on Nov. 30 that included sexual abuse of a minor and multiple third-degree sex offenses, according to the state’s attorney’s office. Vigna, who has served more than six years in prison, will face an additional 23 years if he violates probation, the release said.
Vigna’s admission of guilt saves his victims from experiencing the trauma of another trial and “following nearly a decade of denial is vindication for the victims and the community,” State’s Attorney John McCarthy said in the release.
Vigna’s attorneys Isabelle Raquin and Stephen Mercer declined to comment. A secretary at the Raquin Mercer Law Offices said the firm has a “no press policy.”
In 2017, Vigna was sentenced to 48 years in prison for assaulting four female students over a 15-year period. Vigna allegedly had students sit on his lap while the class watched videos or did independent work and then touched them inappropriately, MoCo360 previously reported. He worked for MCPS from 1992 to 2016 and taught third through fifth grade at Cloverly Elementary School, according to court documents.
In July, Vigna’s conviction for sexually abusing minors was vacated after he filed for post-conviction relief in March 2022, in which he claimed ineffective assistance of counsel. On July 7, Circuit Court Judge David Lease ruled that Vigna’s attorney was ineffective and granted him a new trial.
Vigna was released from prison on bond and ordered to wear an ankle monitor, stay away from places where minors congregate and have no unsupervised contact with minors.
McCarthy said Friday’s plea agreement is “an appropriate resolution given all of the challenges that would arise should the case go to trial. The state received unfavorable rulings in pre-trial motions hearings that would have required some of the victims’ cases to be tried separately. The passage of time itself presents additional hurdles to overcome.”