A Chicago Public Schools teacher has been charged with kidnapping and sexually assaulting a 15-year-old girl over four days at his home.
Christian Fenger Academy instructor Christopher McFarland, 59, appeared in court Jan. 7 on charges of kidnapping and aggravated criminal sexual assault by force, according to records.
Judge Maryam Ahmad ordered McFarland held at Cook County Jail while the case continues, a detention order later upheld by another judge.
In her order, Ahmad noted that “several complaints have been filed against [McFarland at] CPS for inappropriate contact with girls.” No other details were included in the order.
McFarland was accused of taking the girl to his home and assaulting her for four days using force.
Prosecutors said the girl was later “rescued by police from the defendant’s residence.” Court records indicate McFarland lives in south suburban Burnham, but he was taken into custody at a hotel in Lansing.
After his arrest, McFarland “made admissions to having sex with victim,” according to court records.
A spokeswoman for the state’s attorney’s office declined to provide more information about the allegations. A detective at the Lansing Police Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
McFarland has been a CPS teacher for 20 years and a county resident for three decades, according to handwritten notes on a court document.
District records show McFarland was most recently working as a special education teacher at Fenger Academy, located in the Far South Side Roseland neighborhood, and has an annual salary of $106,000 a year.
A spokesman for the school district said McFarland was suspended without pay “pending a dismissal proceeding on unrelated incidents” but declined to provide more information about the complaints against McFarland. The spokesman directed the Sun-Times to file a public records request for his personnel records.
