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Fifty-eight-year-old Joseph Ohrt of Buckingham was sentenced to 2.5 to 5 years in state prison by Common Pleas Judge Jeffrey L. Finley on Monday, June 12, the District Attorney's Office said.
Ohrt, the one-time choir director at Central Bucks West High School, was first charged last February, after police investigators said he'd used hidden cameras in his home to record a male student changing clothes. One video showed the victim naked, authorities said.
According to the DA's office, the teacher asked another student to dispose of the video equipment, but the student became suspicious and turned the devices over to Central Bucks Regional police.
Continued investigation revealed several allegations of inappropriate physical contact by students dating back to the early 1990s.
One of the students, aged 11, said Ohrt had molested them at school, and a second, aged 13, said he was inappropriately touched while babysitting for the teacher.
“Mr. Ohrt’s crimes are all the more egregious because of the high level of public trust conferred upon him by his status as a teacher for decades,” DA Matt Weintraub said. “He perverted that trust by preying upon the very children he was entrusted to nurture, educate and care for.”
In October, Ohrt pleaded no contest to two counts each of indecent assault, corruption of minors, and invasion of privacy, and one count of evidence tampering.
At his sentencing on Monday, a victim told the court that Ohrt "not only invaded my privacy, but (...) invaded my entire being." Another called the ex-teacher "the lowest of lows," according to the DA's Office.
In addition to the prison term, Ohrt was sentenced to five years probation, 15 years on the sex offender registry, and continued "sexual offender treatment," authorities said.
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