PROVIDENCE — A judge ordered a Providence middle-school teacher to remain held without bail last Tuesday on charges of sexually assaulting a former student and producing child pornography of the teen, saying the 50-year-old man poses a danger to the community and that testimony and allegations showed “textbook grooming’’ of the girl.
District Court Judge Debra Saunders said that although Joseph Gannon didn’t use physical force, a jury could find that he coerced and groomed the girl into sex, starting when she was in his classroom in the seventh and eighth grades at Nathanael Greene Middle School. The girl trusted him, and Gannon used her “vulnerable, fragile’’ state to twist that trust into a “deviant’’ sexual relationship, the judge said.
“Teachers hold a position of trust in our community,’’ Saunders said. “Instead of making sure she went to school, he took her to his home for sex.’’
Gannon, who has been held at the Adult Correctional Institutions in Cranston for 2½ months, appeared in court Tuesday without the piercings and dyed purple ponytail he wore when he was arrested. He shook his head and muttered under his breath as the judge spoke.
The young woman, who is now 20, clutched a tissue as she listened with her supporters and the lead investigator, Providence Police Detective Koren Garcia. The Globe does not identify people who allege they are victims of sexual assault without their permission.
The Providence police arrested Gannon at the middle school on Sept. 20, a day after the girl spoke to detectives and disclosed that Gannon had sex with her dozens of times, starting when she was 15 until she was 18, and took photos and videos of her engaged in sexual acts. Police seized digital devices and computer hard drives from the school and Gannon’s home, including iPads labeled as property of the city of Providence, court filings show.
Gannon has been held without bail since his arrest. While first-degree sexual assault is a charge ineligible for bail, Gannon’s lawyer, Albert E. Medici Jr. of Johnston, had argued in hearings in October and November that the teacher was unlikely to be convicted because he and the teen had a “consensual’’ sexual relationship.
While the judge said she agreed with Medici that there was no evidence of physical force, she said there was clearly “psychological coercion.’’ She agreed to Assistant Attorney General Meghan McDonough’s request to continue holding Gannon without bail.
Saunders said that she found the young woman to be “highly credible.’’ Before handing down her decision, the judge repeated some of the woman’s searing and explicit testimony.
Gannon had been the girl’s science teacher and led an after-school gardening class in which she participated. While in his classroom, the girl began confiding in Gannon about her troubled home life. She was a first-generation immigrant, and her parents were often working, leaving her under the supervision of an abusive older brother.
“I see that as the beginning, because it’s the teacher’s responsibility to report abuse,’’ Saunders said. “He didn’t do that.’’
He just kept the girl talking to him, the judge recounted. The girl testified that she was grateful Gannon was listening. She said she felt like she had no one else. And, in the summer of 2019, after the girl graduated from middle school, they continued talking through email and text messages.
The girl was “vulnerable, fragile,’’ venting about her loneliness and thoughts of suicide. Gannon vented about his job and his family. Then, he turned the conversation to sex. He gave her sex toys and told her how to use them, and then he initiated her first sexual experience when she was 15, in his home in Warwick while his wife and two children were out. “She’d testified that she wasn’t ready for sex,’’ Saunders recalled. “She’d never kissed a boy before.’’
The young woman testified about some of the 100 sexual encounters that the two had over the next three years. He picked her up when she was supposed to be in school and took her to have sex in his car parked behind a Babies R Us in Swan Point Cemetery in Providence, at motels, and at his home in Warwick. She testified that he pressured her to invite another 15-year-old student to join them in sex; the friend sent explicit photos, but there was no meeting.
The girl testified about being in pain, feeling confused about what was happening, about how she didn’t know anything about sex until Gannon got involved in her life. As time went on, her former teacher had her in bondage. He took photos and videos of her that ended up on a sex website, where he has an account. He kept cards that she sent him offering her love.
In April 2022, when she turned 18 and had a boyfriend, the young woman broke things off with Gannon, saying he was too old and she was too young. He refused to give back the photos and videos. In September 2024, when she was 20, she came to realize the relationship was wrong, and she went to the police.
Gannon’s wife had filed for divorce in June 2022 citing irreconcilable differences, and the couple had shared custody of their two children, according to court records. After he was arrested, Gannon’s ex-wife immediately asked family court for full custody “to protect my children and care for them.’’ A judge issued an emergency order awarding the ex-wife temporary sole custody and barring Gannon from parenting time with the children until further order of the court, and asked the state Department of Children, Youth, and Families to investigate, according to court records.
Medici argued that Gannon could be released on bail because of his ties to the community, support of his family, and that he has children and owns his home. Medici said Gannon didn’t have a criminal record otherwise, and that there was “no indication he’d commit further crimes.’’ The DCYF investigation was “unfounded,’’ he said.
The judge, however, saw a strong likelihood that Gannon would reoffend. As for his ties to the community, Saunders said, “That didn’t keep him from the behavior that got him here.’’
Amanda Milkovits can be reached at amanda.milkovits@globe.com. Follow her @AmandaMilkovits.
