A high school teacher in Taoyuan has been sentenced to 14 months in prison after being convicted of molesting a male student by locking him inside a classroom and groping him under the pretext of checking a post-surgery wound, the Taoyuan District Court ruled.
The teacher, who had been employed at the school since 2019, approached student A in June 2025, citing concern over a heart surgery the boy had undergone. He lured the student to a classroom during a break period and, once the boy was inside, locked the front door. Despite the student repeatedly shaking his head in refusal, the teacher forcibly pulled down his trousers and touched his genitals for one to two minutes, stopping only when someone in the corridor was heard turning the door handle and knocking. Before releasing the student, the teacher issued a threat: “Don’t tell anyone — and don’t tell your mother.”
The abuse came to light through an unexpected channel. Too frightened to confide in family or friends, and inhibited by the power imbalance between student and teacher, the boy instead typed his experience into the AI chatbot ChatGPT, asking whether it was normal for a teacher to touch a student’s genitals and whether such conduct could genuinely be “for his own good.”
The case broke open when the student’s mother borrowed his computer and stumbled upon the ChatGPT conversation log. Confronted by his mother, the boy broke down in tears and disclosed what had happened.
In court, the teacher denied any physical contact, claiming he had only verbally advised the student to wear looser underwear. The court rejected his account. Judges found the victim’s description of events to be specific and credible, and surveillance footage confirmed that a teacher had been seen knocking on a locked classroom door at the relevant time.
Prosecutors uncovered a second alleged victim, student B, who claimed the same teacher had subjected him to similar abuse on five separate occasions under the guise of performing a “detoxification” procedure. Student A also testified that he had heard student B complain of being touched uncomfortably by the teacher and wanting to keep the matter secret. The court nonetheless acquitted the teacher on charges relating to student B, citing insufficient objective evidence. With no surveillance footage and no corroborating physical evidence — only a single testimony and school gender equity committee records deemed hearsay — the court applied the principle of presumption of innocence and returned a not-guilty verdict on those counts.
In delivering the 14-month sentence, the court noted that as an educator the teacher bore a duty to protect his students, yet had exploited a position of trust to satisfy his own impulses, inflicting serious psychological trauma on student A. Judges further noted that he had shown no remorse and had made no attempt at reconciliation with the victim. The conviction remains subject to appeal.
Separately, images of minors found on the teacher’s mobile phone during the investigation were referred to prosecutors for further action.
