CHARLESTON, W.Va. — A former Kanawha County middle school special needs teacher pleaded guilty to misdemeanor battery during a hearing Friday in Kanawha County Magistrate Court.
Anthony Wilson, 47, of Beckley, entered a plea deal with prosecutors and in exchange had a second charge, misdemeanor assault, dropped, according to a WCHS-TV report.
Wilson was sentenced to three months home confinement Friday. He was fined $147.00.
Wilson, who taught at Horace Mann Middle School in Charleston, was arrested in May 2021 following an investigation into complaints of abuse to students in his classroom.
Criminal charges against three aides in the classroom have already worked their way through the court system. Walter Pannell was sentenced to a year in jail, James Lynch was sentenced to two years in jail and Lillian Branham was sentenced to three months home confinement.
Wilson’s case never got beyond magistrate court. It was postponed at least a half dozen times.
The families of four of the students in Wilson’s classroom sued the Kanawha County school system. The case settled for $5 million.