ST. LOUIS COUNTY, Mo. — As part of a plea agreement, a former Kirkwood High School teacher pleaded guilty to two counts of endangering a child and was sentenced Tuesday to five years' probation.
Christopher Stephens initially faced eight different charges involving three victims who said they were sexually assaulted and raped by him in the '90s.
In a St. Louis County courtroom, a small audience was in tears as Judge Heather Cunningham sentenced 58-year-old Stephens to five years of probation for pleading guilty to two counts of endangering the welfare of a child.
Katie Pappageorge is one of the two victims. She said she's glad he pleaded guilty but no sentence would lead to permanent healing.
"What I've wanted throughout this was for him to say and accept what he really did to me, and this feels like as close to it as I can get," Pappageorge said.
In a powerful statement to the court, Pappageorge said she was a student at Kirkwood High in the '90s when Stephens was her theater and speech teacher. She said the grooming started when she was 12 years old, and by the time she was 15 years old, he had raped her; destroying her future and stealing her voice, which she is now slowly getting back.
"He's good at teaching, and he always has been. He's won a lot of awards, but I wouldn't consider him a good teacher because raping someone makes you not a good teacher," Pappageorge said.
Judge Cunningham told Pappageorge her statement did not fall on deaf ears: "I pray for your healing."
She's not alone. Pappageorge said she talked with several victims, including Jill Wilson, who was by her side in court Tuesday. Wilson reported Stephens to other Kirkwood faculty in 1997 but never heard anything else about it. He left the school in 1998.
"I always thought I was the last one, but I had no idea," Wilson said.
Now, Wilson is a theater teacher, herself, on a mission to do right by her students.
"It's really important for me to have my young girls see me come here right now and say, 'If there's any ever anything that's happening that is behind closed doors and it makes you feel uncomfortable like something isn't quite right, then it's probably not quite right, and go immediately and tell a trusted adult right away. And if you don't get the sort of feedback from that trusted adult that you feel like you need, go tell another one,'" Wilson said.
Wilson added while it's a horrible injustice, she is leaning on her faith.
"My sense of peace and healing comes from Jesus, so I'm good. Either way, I was going to be good with whatever happened today," Wilson said.
Part of Stephens' probation sentence is he will no longer be able to teach anyone under the age of 18, but Pappageorge and Wilson are still worried as he was a teacher at St. Louis Community College until 2019.
"I just, I don't think he's safe. And there's such a thing as adults being at risk of sexual abuse, which I feel like the court really isn't recognizing here. I wish that had been taken into account in some way, but I also recognize the limitations of the law," Pappageorge said.
Pappageorge said while she doesn't believe prison is a remedy, she had hoped for stronger charges.
"I had hoped he would be on the sex offender registry. I had hoped that he would plead on statutory rape because I felt like that adequately got across the gravity of what he did," she said.
She said child endangerment doesn't go far enough,
"I looked it up in the statute, and it could mean that you had sex with an under-17-year-old that you were charged with the care with, or it can mean that you cooked meth in your house," she said.
Stephens' lawyer Bill Marguilus said in a statement, "We are very pleased the state dismissed all of the original charges. Our client is very pleased with the outcome, and he is happy to put this behind him. He looks forward to moving on with his life."
If Stephens violates his probation, he would serve an eight-year prison sentence, four years for each charge.
Resources for crime victims
If you have been a victim of a crime or know someone who has been, 5 On Your Side has compiled a list of resources.
The Crime Victim Center of St. Louis has multiple programs to support victims of crime. Crime Victim Center’s programs range from direct services to crime victims as well as “creating awareness and change within the systems they encounter.”
Life Outside of Violence "helps those harmed by stabbing, gunshot or assault receive the treatment, support and resources they need to find alternatives to end the cycle of violence."
The Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis has the Neighborhood Healing Network, which serves people who have experienced crime, violence or been the victim of an incident that caused trauma.
The Bullet Related Injury Clinic (BRIC) is a community-based clinic in St. Louis that helps people heal after they have been injured by a bullet. The BRIC was established to help people who are discharged from the emergency department after being shot.