Updated at 11:30 a.m.: The security team leader at Richard Montgomery High School in Rockville was arrested Thursday morning and charged with having inappropriate sexual contact with a 17-year-old female student, according to Montgomery County police.
Police arrested Mark Christopher Yantsos, 57, at his home on the 600 block of Warfield Drive in Rockville. Yantsos was charged with sexual abuse of a minor and a fourth-degree sex offense. He was transported to the Central Processing Unit in the Montgomery County Detention Center.
School officials notified detectives Monday that Yantsos had allegedly engaged in an ongoing sexual relationship with the student.
The girl had come to know Yantsos while attending the school and began talking with him more frequently in April 2016, viewing him as “a close friend and confidant,” according to court documents. Around October, the relationship intensified, with Yantsos telling her he loved her and wanted them to be together.
Yantsos began buying her gifts, such as a pair of UGG boots and a North Face jacket, and giving them to her at school, according to the documents. In December, they began communicating over the phone more frequently and met in person every couple of days.
He also gave her a diamond pendant necklace on Christmas and a ring on Valentine’s Day, according to documents. In March, he gave her a phone to use “as a precaution” when communicating with him.
The girl told police that Yantsos picked her up at her house March 3 and brought her to a hotel room, where he had sex with her, according to the documents.
The student’s mother became aware of the relationship Monday and alerted school officials, according to police.
During the investigation, investigators received screenshots of sexually explicit text messages and hand-written love letters Yantsos allegedly sent to the student, as well as photographs of the student and Yantsos in his work uniform apparently taken during the school day.
In a letter to parents, Richard Montgomery High School principal Damon Monteleone said Thursday the school is fully cooperating with the investigation and is prioritizing the safety of students.
“The allegations described in the charging documents are despicable and represent an irreparable breach of trust, ethics and the law,” he wrote. “We do not and will not tolerate this behavior in our school.”
Yantsos was hired by Montgomery County Public Schools in 2007 and became security team leader at Richard Montgomery in 2008, MCPS spokesman Derek Turner said. Yantsos was also the girls’ varsity basketball coach at the high school during the 2012-2013 and 2013-2014 seasons, according to Monteleone.
Yantsos has been placed on administrative leave.
MCPS Superintendent Jack Smith released a message about the arrest Thursday morning, saying student safety is “paramount” and “any adult who abuses their position and takes advantage of our students has no place in our schools or community.”
Smith also wrote that MCPS has learned that Yantsos was accused in 1994 of using his revolver to “menace” a woman while working for the New York Police Department. That information was provided to county police, he said.
The New York Times reported that year that an Officer Mark Yantsos, then a seven-year veteran with the department, was charged with a misdemeanor for drawing his gun on a waitress and dancer at a topless bar. He was off-duty at the time and was drinking heavily, police told the Times. Authorities said he was trying to pick up the woman and drew his revolver on the 30-year-old woman after an early morning argument.
Turner said school security personnel at schools go through the same screening process as all school employees, with a background check involving fingerprinting and a search for a criminal record.
Montgomery County Executive Ike Leggett told Bethesda Beat on Thursday that county needs to look at the selection process of school employees.
“We entrust people in these positions whereby they have tremendous authority and sway with young people and therefore they need to be evaluated, their backgrounds need to be looked at very carefully,” Leggett said, “and I am not certain that there’s anything lacking, but that’s where I would start in terms of looking at that process.”
Police ask parents of Richard Montgomery students to talk to their children about their interactions with Yantsos and contact detectives at 240-773-5400 if they believe their child may have had inappropriate contact with him.
“Because of his status and accessibility to young people, we want to know if there are other victims out there,” police spokesman Capt. Paul Starks said.
With reporting by Bethesda Beat editor Andrew Metcalf
