Former Gilman student testifies teacher sexually abused him starting at age 15

A 23-year-old man told a federal jury Friday that he was just 15 when his teacher and mentor at the prestigious Gilman School in Baltimore began sexually abusing him.

The man, who The Baltimore Sun is not naming because he says he is a victim of sexual abuse, described in detail how the suspect on trial, 40-year-old Christopher K. Bendann, began instructing him as a teenager to take off his clothes in Bendann’s car.

“It just kept getting worse and worse,” the man testified. “Then it progressed to him touching me.”

The man is the key witness against Bendann, who is on trial this week for sexual exploitation of a minor, possession of child pornography and cyberstalking.

Bendann was in court Friday after initially saying he wanted to skip parts of his trial. His refusal to leave the Chesapeake Detention Facility in Baltimore on Wednesday delayed jury selection by several hours.

Bendann’s attorney, Christopher Nieto, told jurors in his opening statement that Bendann admits to having a sexual relationship with the man, but claims it began after the teen was 18. Bendann is more than 15 years older than the man and was his teacher and counselor at Gilman when the boy was in eighth grade.

Nieto told the jury that when the man’s girlfriend found out he was dating Bendann, the man panicked and misrepresented how the relationship had started.

“The entire Gilman community turned against him after that,” Bendann said, Nieto said.

The defense does not dispute that Bendann cyberstalked the teen after he left for college, but Nieto argued that it was an adult relationship and one of Bendann’s first romantic relationships.

“When this friendship developed into a romantic relationship, (the man) was over 18,” said Nieto, a court-appointed prosecutor.

Testimony at Bendann’s trial on Friday revealed that he was a popular, well-liked teacher who had a strong appeal to the high school students he taught.

“It was like he was a pied piper,” said the mother of the man, who was the first witness for the prosecution.

She and her husband were both involved with Gilman and knew that Bendann had a friendly relationship with their son.

It wasn’t until years later, when their son was in college, that they learned of the abuse, she and her husband testified.

Their son testified that Bendann often organized outings with groups of teenagers, which resulted in Bendann picking up the boys from parties where they had been drinking. Bendann sometimes suggested that they run “naked laps” in exchange for the favor, he testified.

The man was 15 at the time. Eventually, Bendann began driving the boy one-on-one and taking him to McDonald’s. Bendann began telling the teen that if they went to McDonald’s, he would have to sit naked in Bendann’s car, the man testified. From there, he said, the abuse escalated. Bendann told him to touch himself, and then began touching the boy. Bendann took photos and videos, some of which were shown in court Friday.

Bendann also frequently house-sat for other families in the Gilman community. He would gather teens at those homes and then call the boy upstairs to join him in the bathroom, where Bendann would abuse him in the shower, according to testimony. A photo shown in court shows Bendann’s face next to the teen’s body.

As a teenager, the man told no one about the abuse, he testified. When he tried to tell Bendann to stop, Bendann threatened to make public the sexual photos he had taken of the boy, he said.

“As a child, being touched by a teacher is not something to be proud of,” he said.

Bendann was fired from the private boys’ school in the Roland Park neighborhood of North Baltimore last year after reports of the “naked laps,” when he finally told his parents what had happened, they testified.

Assistant District Attorney Colleen E. McGuinn told jurors in her opening statement that the man will be “forever affected” by Bendann’s abuse.

“A teacher affects eternity,” McGuinn said. “He can never know where his influence ends.”

Testimony in the case continues Friday afternoon, with the trial expected to last up to two weeks.