Maryland Legislators Fail To Pass Child Sexual Abuse Bill

by Sydney Henry ‘20

 Maryland’s 2018 legislative session ended with multiple bills suspended in the House and Senate. One of these bills in particular might have made a major change in legality surrounding sex crimes in Maryland.

 Known as House Bill 500, “this bill makes it a misdemeanor for a worker to knowingly fail to provide a required notice or make a required report of suspected child abuse or neglect if the worker (1) has actual knowledge of the abuse or neglect or (2) witnesses the act of the abuse or neglect,” as quoted from the Department of Legislative Services. Violation of the proposed bill would result in a fine of $1,000, or a maximum penalty of six months imprisonment.

 After the bill successfully made its way through the Senate, it was stuck in the House of Representatives up until April 9 when the session ended. The failure of this bill leaves Maryland as only one of two states in the country, along with North Carolina, that does not criminalize those who fail to report child sexual abuse.

 Over the past two years there have been multiple incidents of child sexual abuse occurring in Montgomery County Public Schools. One instance which occurred at Cloverly Elementary ended with John Vigna, a teacher who taught three grades at the school, being charged with 48 years in prison for four counts of sex abuse of a minor and five counts of third-degree sex offense. But records show that Vigna was committing sexual acts with minors long before he was arrested. Three different students reported throughout Vigna’s career, inappropriate physical interactions between Vigna and the children. These interactions spanned from making the children sit on his lap to groping them during the classes. Vigna was reprimanded for his actions in 2013, and district officials warned the school district to remove him from the classroom for his inappropriate behavior. But the district allowed him to continue teaching. And according to Vigna’s testimony, some of the students that had reported incidents that led to his first reprimand, continued to be abused after he was dismissed.