Former Mississippi teacher sentenced to nearly 200 years in prison for sexually abusing former students | Education

GREENVILLE, Mississippi (AP) — A former Mississippi teacher was sentenced Thursday to nearly 200 years in prison for multiple counts of sexual exploitation of a child, federal prosecutors said.

Chief U.S. District Judge Debra M. Brown sentenced Toshemie Wilson, 48, of Okolona, ​​​​who worked in the Amory school district, to 192 years in prison and ordered him to pay more than $123,000 in restitution to his victims and pay $5,000 in human trafficking restitution, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Mississippi said in a news release.

In December, a jury in Greenville found Wilson guilty of eight counts of sexual exploitation of children based on his conduct while working as a teacher in the school district. Testimony during his trial revealed that Wilson used his position as a teacher and counselor to a student group to get students to produce videos and images of child sexual abuse in exchange for money and drugs.

Seven people testified that Wilson approached them during their school years and asked them to film sexually explicit videos in various locations, including a school bathroom, between 2005 and 2014 for payment.

“Parents and children should be able to trust teachers, and Toshemie Wilson has deeply abused that trust and deserves every hour of every day he spends in prison,” said U.S. Attorney Clay Joyner. “I cannot commend enough the courage of the victims who have come forward… Wilson is now exactly where he belongs.”