Former Md. Congressional Candidate, Teacher Charged With Sex Crimes Against Student

Former congressional candidate charged with sex crimes

A Montgomery County Public Schools teacher was arrested and charged today with offenses related to inappropriate sexual contact with a 14-year-old girl.

Maxwell Bero, 30, of Clarksburg, Md., was charged Wednesday by the Montgomery County Department of Police’s Special Victims Investigations Division on criminal offenses related to “inappropriate sexual contact with a 14-year-old female.”

Bero was charged with sexual abuse of a minor and multiple counts of committing a third-degree sexual offense.

The offenses occurred from Aug. 2014 to June 2015, according to a press release from Montgomery County Police.

“The female victim was an eighth-grade student and Bero was her teacher at the Col. E. Brooke Lee Middle School in Silver Spring.  The sexual interactions occurred after school hours on school property.”

Bero announced in Nov. 2019 that he would run for Congress in Maryland’s 6th Congressional District, taking on incumbent Rep. David J. Trone (D-Md.).

Trone defeated Bero in the June 2 Democratic primary.

On July 28, 2020, SVID detectives began an investigation into allegations of sexual abuse of the (now 19-year-old) victim by Bero, the release said.

“Detectives learned that during the 2014-2015 school year, Bero engaged in inappropriate sexual contact and exchanged inappropriate sexual materials and messages with the juvenile victim/student.”

Bero is a high school teacher at Watkins Mill High School in Gaithersburg but was placed on administrative leave by MCPS. He graduated from the University of Maryland and later moved to Germantown.

Bero is married and has one daughter.

An online bio for Bero states he taught high school and coached football and lacrosse in Montgomery Village.

Mr. Bero did not respond to A Miner Detail’s request for comment.

Detectives are concerned there may be additional victims of Bero and are asking anyone who believes that he/she is a victim to call SVID detectives at 240-773-5400.

This story will be updated.


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