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Christopher Bendann, a former Gilman School teacher accused of abusing a student, was arrested by the FBI early Friday, August 18, 2023, after they found explicit videos of minors dating to 2017.
Bendann, who was charged earlier this year for s*xually abusing a student at a private, all-boys school between 2016 to 2019, was on home detention awaiting a December trial when the FBI arrested him Friday after they recovered video files from an iCloud account associated with Bendann’s email address.
The Baltimore Banner, citing court documents, revealed that video files depicted the accused touching “the minor victim’s genitals.” Authorities said that they had been watching the suspect for a week when they uncovered files.
In the wake of the discovery Bendann, who had vehemently denied the former abuse charges leveled against him, was charged again with possessing s*xually explicit material of children.
Christopher Bendann was fired from Gilman School in January 2023
Christopher Bendann, a former Gilman School teacher who taught social studies to students at the private, all-boys institution for 17 years, was fired in January 2023, on suspicion of carrying on inappropriate relationships with current and former pupils.
The allegations came to light when a former student, who was 15, talked about the abuse and filed a complaint stating that Christopher Bendann plied them with alcohol and drove them to a school and park. There, he asked them to run around naked in front of him.
According to court documents, the abuse, which dated back from 2016 to 2019, soon escalated to physical assault, where the accused forced the children to perform inappropriate acts and also filmed their nude bodies.
Shortly after investigators searched his house in Rodgers Forge and charged him with s*xual abuse of a minor and second-degree r*pe. At the time, in a statement sent to 11 News, the Gilman School said:
"We are aware that a former Gilman teacher has been arrested by authorities in Baltimore County. We are committed to supporting our students and families as well as our broader Gilman community as they process this devastating news."
Investigators said that they had been watching Christopher Bendann, who was free on home arrest since February after he was charged with a crime against minors. Incidentally, the vigilant surveillance led them to recover video files from an iCloud account associated with Bendann’s personal email address this week and obtain a grand jury indictment charging him with five counts of s*xual exploitation of a minor.
Christopher Bendann's lawyer deny allegations levelled against the client
The recent arrest comes on the heels of the suspect's attorney denying the accusations leveled against his client earlier this month.
Prior to the arrest, in a statement to Baltimore Banner, Christopher Bendann’s defense attorney, Kobie Flowers, resolute in his belief that authorities will not find evidence that would incriminate his client, said:
“We now stand some five, six months later, and there is only one complaining witness. ... And that complaining witness has several reasons to be less than honest. We expect to show that in court.”
In the wake of his arrest, Flowers told the publication that the allegations still do not hold merit as they stemmed from only one accuser. Flowers maintained that there were no additional victims in the case. However, Steve Silverman, an attorney for the alleged victim in the county case, said that the federal indictment proved that the former teacher was a predator. In a statement to Baltimore Banner, Silverman said:
“He called the victim a liar. He said he’s never taken a photograph or a video of anyone inappropriately. Not only did he do that, he tried to destroy that evidence and took comfort in his destruction of evidence, and the government is only beginning to recover all of the photographic evidence that he destroyed.”
In the wake of the recent development, Silverman believed additional victims will soon emerge in the case.
