Abdul Wright, a former Minnesota Teacher of the Year was found guilty Wednesday of assaulting one of his former students when she was 14.
Wright, 39, was convicted of one count of first-degree criminal sexual conduct for sexually assaulting his former student during the 2016-2017 school year, after he had been named the Minnesota Teacher of the Year for 2016. He was the student’s eighth-grade language arts teacher at Harvest Best Academy, a north Minneapolis charter school that predominately serves Black students.
His bench trial began on Aug. 25 and lasted until Sept. 2. Hennepin County District Court Judge Sarah West issued a verdict Wednesday.
Wright was taken into custody immediately after the verdict, nodding once to the gallery then leaving the courtroom alongside a Hennepin County sheriff’s deputy in silence.
The former student, now 22, testified over two days, and said that Wright repeatedly assaulted her in multiple classrooms at Harvest Best Academy. She also said he assaulted her many times at Wright’s house at the time, and that he forced her to regularly take emergency contraception.
Sahan Journal is not identifying the student due to the nature of the crime.
The former student said the abuse stopped when her father confronted Wright and Harvest Best leadership with her phone records, which showed frequent phone calls between her and Wright, sometimes at 3 a.m. The father ultimately sought a restraining order against Wright, and they came to an agreement that limited communication with the girl.
The woman said she didn’t tell her family about the abuse until 2024, after she studied psychology in college and began to process what had happened to her.
“Now she can move on with her life,” the victim’s grandmother said. “She doesn’t have to hold onto that secret anymore.”
The grandmother, who attended the hearing, said when the verdict came down she was happy for her granddaughter, who she said was having a hard time focusing on school while carrying this burden. But, she said, she has complicated feelings about the result being “one more Black man in prison.”
“It’s good that my granddaughter can [move on] but here we go again — a Black man with some skills, an educator, going to prison,” she said. “Our family might find some joy in this but here’s another family that’s just ripped apart because he’s got kids, too.”
The woman’s mother also testified in court, and recordings of a phone conversation between her and Wright were played in court.
In two recordings, Wright begged the victim’s mother not to take legal action. He also offered to quit his job teaching and move out of the country.
Assistant Hennepin County Attorney Evan Powell, citing the recordings, asked for Wright to be taken into custody following the hearing.
“[With] what your honor heard in those phone recordings about his willingness to leave the state and the country and even commit suicide based on what he even claimed was a false allegation,” Powell said to the judge. “Now that he’s been convicted of that crime, I think he’s at an increased risk and should be held in custody until sentencing.”
Wright’s defense attorneys argued in court that the former student was lying about the abuse, and said that she made the allegations in part for financial gain. The student filed a lawsuit against Wright and Harvest Best Academy earlier this year, arguing that the school failed to take action against Wright after the school was informed about inappropriate contact with her.
Prosecutors argued that the woman’s testimony is credible. Her mother testified that the lawsuit was filed to seek justice, not monetary gain.
The lawsuit has been paused until Wright’s criminal trial concludes.
A sentencing date has been set for Oct. 8 at 9 a.m.
