A former teacher at Hinsdale Central High School was arrested Friday and charged with having sexual contact with a 16-year-old former student.
James Bryla, 29, is charged with three counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse and one count of criminal sexual assault, all felonies, according to the DuPage County state’s attorney’s office.
Bryla persuaded the victim, a 16-year-old girl, to meet him at a park after school on at least two occasions in April 2011, prosecutors said. He had inappropriate contact with the girl at the park and inside his vehicle.
Authorities started investigating after the victim reported what happened to Hinsdale police in December 2014, the state’s attorney’s office said.
Bryla was previously a technology teacher at Hinsdale Central, where the victim was a former student, prosecutors said. He was taken into custody Friday afternoon without incident.
“As a teacher and mentor, Mr. Bryla held a position of trust and authority over this young girl,” State’s Attorney Robert Berlin said in a prepared statement. “If these allegations are proven true, Mr. Bryla took advantage of the trust placed in him by his victim as well as Hinsdale Central High School just to satisfy his own despicable desires.”
School officials cooperated fully with authorities throughout the investigation, Berlin said.
Bryla, of the 1800 block of Hampton Lane in Yorkville, was ordered held on a $300,000 bond Friday afternoon, prosecutors said. He will next appear in court May 4.
