An educator who competed on Family Feud has been arrested and is facing multiple felony charges in Delaware.
Christopher Crisona, a 57-year-old working as an elementary school teacher, was arrested in Orange County, Florida on March 10, according to jail records obtained by PEOPLE.
The 57-year-old was arrested related to allegations of abuse from a former student at St. Thomas the Apostle School in Wilmington, Delaware, where Crisona was a teacher from 1994 to 1996, according to a press release from the Attorney General’s office.
He was charged on seven counts, including three counts of unlawful sexual intercourse, unlawful sexual penetration and continuous sexual abuse of a child, per the release.
The abuse was uncovered during an investigation into allegations of abuse at the Wilmington school and rectory, which also implicated 80-year-old John Taggart, who was a priest and “repeatedly abused a victim during their 7th and 8th grade years at St. Thomas, and continued after the victim left St. Thomas and began high school,” per the Attorney General.
The same victim alleged abuse by Crisona, too, who was “removed mid-year” in 1996 from the school “following a student complaint,” and went on to work at three other local schools before finding his most recent employment in Florida.
Orange County Corrections Department
Kathy Jennings, the state’s Attorney General, said in a statement that the indictment “alleges a pattern of gravely serious abuse against a juvenile by two adults in a position of trust.”
“As prosecutors, and as parents, these kinds of cases keep us up at night — but they also give us purpose. The victim in this case suffered profound trauma over a period of years and deserves justice. I’m grateful to the police, prosecutors, and social workers who have been critical to this investigation and who are committed to getting justice.”
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Crisona, who appeared on Family Feud during host Steve Harvey’s first season in 2010, was denied bond by a judge in Orange County, Florida, last week and remains in custody, local outlet WFTV9 reported. He could face extradition to Delaware.
The Florida broadcast station reported that Crisona has been a teacher at seven different schools in the area since 2008 and was most recently employed at Andover Elementary as a first-grade teacher.
A spokesperson for the school district told the outlet in a statement, “The individual was arrested due to a personal matter unrelated to the school and will not be returning to campus while there is an open investigation.”
If you or someone you know has been a victim of sexual abuse, text “STRENGTH” to the Crisis Text Line at 741-741 to be connected to a certified crisis counselor.
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