Teacher commits suicide
after molesting two students

By William Kenny
Times Staff Writer

A Northeast resident and Bucks County schoolteacher committed suicide on Sept. 22, six days before he was to be sentenced criminally for sexually abusing two female students, ages 14 and 15.
Jeffrey Anderson, 24, of the 3200 block of Guilford St., overdosed on prescription pills and sealed himself inside his bathroom with a burning charcoal grill, according to a police source. Without proper ventilation, a grill can produce fatal levels of carbon dioxide.
Anderson’s parents, who were visiting him from out of town, found their son collapsed and alone in his Mayfair apartment at about 7 p.m. He was pronounced dead at the scene. Investigators don’t believe he had been dead for more than several hours to a day, the police source said.
A specific cause of death had not been determined, but a note found at the scene indicated that Anderson intended to take his own life. The note expressed the dead man’s shame over his criminal actions, along with his anxiety over going to prison, the police source said.
According to Assistant District Attorney Michelle A. Henry, the Bucks County prosecutor in the case, Anderson was to face a mandatory minimum of 10 years behind bars and potentially decades more.
In August, Anderson pleaded guilty in Bucks County Common Pleas Court to 12 charges, including multiple counts of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse against a person less than 16 years old, a first-degree felony.
According to an affidavit of probable cause prepared by Henry’s office, Anderson took advantage of the two ninth-grade girls at the school where he taught, Tohickon Middle School in Plumstead Township, near Doylestown.
Anderson assaulted the girls multiple times in April and early May. He kissed and fondled both inside school and at the home of one of them. He also engaged in oral sex with the younger girl.
Anderson solicited the girls for sex using cell phones and the Internet, including an online instant-messaging service and the girls’ personal Web pages.
The victims’ parents discovered the communications and, when they confronted their daughters, found out about their sexual contact with their teacher. The parents notified authorities on May 7.
Anderson admitted that he committed the crimes when interviewed by investigators that day. He was fired from his teaching job.
In addition to the aforementioned counts, Anderson also pleaded guilty to aggravated indecent assault, criminal communications, endangering the welfare of a child, corruption of a minor and indecent assault.
After pleading guilty, Anderson was ordered to undergo a psychological assessment to determine his status under Pennsylvania’s version of Megan’s Law, which requires that sexual offenders report their addresses and places of employment to state police following their release from prison. ••
To access a database of Pennsylvania’s sexual offenders, visit www.pameganslaw.state.pa.us
Reporter William Kenny can be reached at 215-354-3031 or bkenny@phillynews.com