A former Montgomery County, Maryland, public school teacher received a 30-year suspended prison sentence for sexual abuse committed against multiple students during his time working at an elementary school, the Montgomery County State’s Attorney’s Office said.
John Vigna, 57, of Silver Spring, pleaded guilty in March to one count of child sexual abuse and three counts of sexual abuse of a minor, prosecutors said. The abuse took place between 2001 and 2016 during his time teaching at Cloverly Elementary School in Silver Spring.
He had served over six years of a 48-year sentence after being convicted in 2017. He was granted a new trial Tuesday after his previous 2017 conviction was vacated in July 2023, due to what his lawyers called “ineffective assistance of counsel” during his first trial.
Vigna will be required to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life and must complete five years of probation with supervision by the Collaborative Offender Management/Enforced Treatment (COMET), have no unsupervised contact with minors, and have no contact with the victims or their families.
He will face an additional 23 years if he violates probation under the suspended sentence, the State’s Attorney’s office said. If he successfully completes his probation with COMET, Vigna will not have to serve prison time.
Montgomery County State’s Attorney John McCarthy said that Vigna’s admission of guilt was important to the students in this case, saying it “prevents further trauma” to them.
“This is an appropriate resolution given all of the challenges that would arise should the case go to trial,” McCarthy said. “The defendant’s admission of guilt following nearly a decade of denial is vindication for the victims and the community.”
WTOP’s Tadi Abedje contributed to this report.
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