Former PHS teacher pleads to sex abuse charge

MAT-SU — A former part-time Palmer High School teacher has reached a plea agreement in a case stemming from his abuse of underage girls at Anchorage schools.

Christopher More, 29, who most recently taught choir at West High in Anchorage, agreed to plead guilty to one sexual abuse count in exchange for a 25-year prison sentence with 13 years suspended, according to Anchorage Police Department spokesman Lt. Dave Parker.

The case came to the attention of Anchorage police at Christmastime when a 17-year-old girl reported that she’d had a sexual relationship with More during the 2009-10 school year, Anchorage police and school officials said at the time. Police investigated and found two more girls who’d also had sexual relationships with him.

In More’s case, like in most other sexual abuse of a minor cases, there is a distinct reason for prosecutors and police prefer a plea agreement to a full-on, public trial.

“It saved those kids having to go through the court process,” Parker said of More’s victims.

More’s sexual relationships with his students were alleged to have occurred at West High School and at Romig Middle School. In addition to the part-time stint at Palmer High School, he has taught at Williwaw Elementary.

Valley school officials have said previously that anyone with concerns about More’s conduct should contact the district’s human resources department or, if they prefer, the principal at Palmer High School.

—Andrew Wellner