A former Oregon elementary school teacher pleaded guilty to sex trafficking charges.
William Hamman, 38, is facing 13 years in federal prison after he admitted to sexually abusing a 15-year-old girl he met on social media, the New York Post reports. He also pleaded guilty to one count of sex trafficking of a child for paying the teen for oral sex. According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Oregon, Hamman recorded all of the illegal and inappropriate acts, which occurred between 2018 and July 2019.
Hamman, a native of Creswell, previously taught at Spring Creek Elementary in Eugene. During his time there, Hamman taught first-graders and also operated a haunted house in October 2018.
Eugene police and FBI agents took Hamman into custody while Hamman was attempting to meet with the 15-year-old again for the fourth time; reports show the girl is not one of his students. “Agents searched his mobile phone and found a recording of one of the sex acts,” federal prosecutors said in a statement Tuesday. “Hamman used social media to arrange the meetings with the minor.”
Local news station KCBY reports no signs or evidence that Hamman harmed any of his students. Prosecutors want to lock Hamman up for more than 13 years. He’s also facing state charges in Lane County of sodomy and sex abuse, and because of that, the U.S. Attorney’s Office is pushing for a 20-month prison term to be added to his sentence for those charges.
The New York Post reports Hamman will be sentenced on March 1. In addition, Hamman agreed to go along with his plea agreement by paying his victim an unspecified amount of restitution.
