A former administrator at a school district in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, pleaded guilty to secretly recording a student.
On Monday, Dec. 1, 2025, former Parkland School District administrator Francis Anonia, 44, of Allentown, Pennsylvania, pleaded guilty to five counts each of intercept communications and criminal use of a communication facility as well as nine misdemeanor counts of invasion of privacy.
During Monday’s hearing, a judge ordered Anonia’s bail revoked. Anonia was then taken into custody.
On Feb. 23, 2023, Anonia’s cellphone was seized by Allentown Police in connection to the investigation of William Marshall, Anonia’s live-in fiancé and a former student. Marshall later pleaded guilty to possession of child sexual abuse material and was sentenced to 11 ½ to 23 months in Lehigh County Jail. At the time, Anonia’s cellphone was not analyzed and he never requested for it to be returned to him.
More than a year later, on April 2, 2024, a complaint was made by a Childline referral request about Anonia during his time at the Parkland School District. After the referral and a press release from the Parkland School District, multiple former students and teachers came forward and reported inappropriate behavior from Anonia. Meanwhile, Anonia’s cellphone remained in possession of police and he agreed to abandon the phone during an interview with Lehigh County detectives on April 16, 2024. Investigators also received another Childline referral about Anonia in late April 2024.
In May 2024, a Court of Common Pleas judge authorized a search warrant allowing investigators access to Anonia’s cellphone. During the search, authorities determined Anonia had secretly recorded videos and pictures of a student without their permission.
Anonia is scheduled for sentencing on Feb. 12, 2026. He faces a possible sentence of 44 to 88 years in prison and will be required to register as a sex offender for at least 15 years. He will also undergo an evaluation to determine if he must be registered as a sex offender for the rest of his life.