A Cook County judge on Tuesday sentenced a former Chicago Public Schools dean to 22 years in prison for sexually abusing a student while she attended the Little Village high school where he oversaw disciplinary matters.
Last month, a jury convicted Brian Crowder, 43, of multiple felony counts after the former student, now a 26-year-old woman, took the stand for hours and testified that he coerced her into a relationship years earlier. After deliberating for around three hours, the panel also acquitted him of three of the seven felony sex charges he faced.
The sentencing resolves the criminal case even as attorneys handling a pending lawsuit against Crowder and the school district lambasted CPS officials and employees for allowing the abuse to continue and even, they said, defending Crowder as part of the sentencing hearing.
CPS did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
During the hearing at the Leighton Criminal Courts Building, Judge Stanley Sacks ordered Crowder to serve three consecutive terms of 12 years, five years and five years, according to court records.
The case went before a jury as CPS’ handling of sexual abuse allegations has been the subject of scrutiny in recent years and as Crowder is also named in a 2024 lawsuit that accuses CPS of failing to protect its students.
In 2018, the Chicago Tribune’s “Betrayed” investigation revealed failures in how the nation’s fourth-largest school district handled allegations of abuse, including neglecting to report accusations to police or child welfare investigators and failing to conduct effective background checks.
In the civil complaint, the woman, who the Tribune because she is the victim in a sexual assault case, accuses employees at Little Village Lawndale High School of failing to act when an inappropriate relationship between Crowder and the student was noticed by others who “would joke about how much time was spent alone” between Crowder and the student.
“Brian Crowder’s sentencing is a critical milestone in our client’s long and courageous fight for justice. She confronted her abuser, endured years of retraumatization through the legal process, and in doing so, ensured he could never harm another student,” her attorneys, Martin Gould and Nicholas Wainwright, said in a statement. “Her bravery deserves the highest recognition.”
The attorneys called out “multiple district employees” who they said submitted character references for the sentencing hearing.
“CPS failed in its most basic duty — to protect its students,” the statement said. “That failure is laid bare by the disturbing fact that multiple CPS employees, including another dean and a head of security, defended Crowder in court.”
Crowder was an associate dean at the Social Justice High School, a part of Little Village Lawndale High School when the woman testified that he approached her in the school’s lunchroom when she was around 15 and asked her for her SnapChat username. The relationship eventually became sexual, she said.
“He wasn’t just a teacher. At that point he was the dean of discipline,” Assistant State’s Attorney Sarah Kofoed during closing arguments at the trial, adding that he controlled whether she received punishments at school. “He controlled the relationship because he was in power.”