ALLENTOWN, Pa. — Parkland High School's former performing arts director returned to Lehigh County Court on Friday to face charges he used his cell phone to secretly record a male student in a school changing room.
Francis Anonia, 43, of Allentown was formally arraigned before Judge Robert T. Steinberg.
Seated beside his attorney, Richard Coble, Anonia was informed of his rights and about dates by which his pretrial motions must be filed if they’re being sought.
Anonia remains free on bail and is scheduled to return to court at 9:30 p.m. March 18 for a status conference to assess the case’s readiness for trial or settlement. He also can enter a plea at that time.
Anonia was charged in October with 19 counts, including 10 felonies.Lehigh County Court records
Anonia was charged in October with 19 counts, including 10 felonies.
The charges are essentially a number of Wiretap Act violations. He also is charged with five criminal use of communication facility violations, and nine charges involve invasion of privacy.
If convicted of all charges, Anonia faces a possible maximum sentence of 44 to 88 years in prison.
While awaiting the arraignment to begin Friday, Anonia repeatedly paced the hall outside Courtroom 4A.
According to a criminal complaint, Anonia had inappropriate contact with a juvenile male member of a school musical in 2022.
The student took the allegations to a teacher, who reported them to ChildLine, a hotline that lets people report suspected child abuse or neglect.
Background of charges
As the investigation continued, it also revealed five separate video files extracted from Anonia's phone that he allegedly recorded in 2021 by hiding the phone on a shelf in the Parkland High School auditorium boys' changing room, authorities said.
According to the affidavit, the videos showed a student in the play “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.”
The student, now 21 years old, confirmed to authorities he was the one in the videos, the affidavit states. He acknowledged they were taken from practices and dress rehearsals for the musical and were recorded without his consent.
Anonia resigned from the Parkland School District in June.
county detectives, after learning of the 2021 allegations, obtained Anonia's phone from Allentown police evidence and conducted a forensic examination.Lehigh County Court affidavit
He was hired at Parkland in 2007 as a teacher and choral director; he was promoted to performing arts director in 2021.
Anonia’s removal from school came days before William Marshall, 29, a former Parkland student who lived with Anonia, was sentenced in Lehigh County Court on April 11 to 11 1/2-to 23 months in Lehigh County Prison.
Authorities said Marshall possessed child pornography and accessed it through Anonia’s home Wi-Fi. Anonia was not charged in connection with Marshall’s case.
However, at the time, Allentown police seized Anonia's phone for their investigation of the Marshall case.
According to the affidavit, county detectives, after learning of the 2021 allegations, obtained Anonia's phone from Allentown police evidence and conducted a forensic examination.
That's when the changing room videos were found, according to authorities.
Staff writer Jason Addy contributed to this report.
