American teacher of Maryland facing new child sexual abuse charge after previous conviction vacated

John Vigna was sentenced to 48 years behind bars in 2017 for sexually abusing female students at Cloverly Elementary School in Montgomery County. 

By Edward Era Barbacena 

A hearing is scheduled Tuesday for a former Montgomery County Public Schools teacher who is facing a new charge of sexual abuse involving the inappropriate touching of a student.

In 2017, John Vigna was sentenced to 48 years behind bars after being convicted of child sexual abuse charges. He was 50 years old at the time.

In 2022, Vigna retained a new attorney and filed for post-conviction relief, claiming ineffective assistance of counsel - essentially, he believed his attorney made mistakes that could have resulted in a different outcome.

After months of hearings from November 2022 to March 2023, Circuit Court Judge David Lease agreed with the ineffective assistance of counsel and vacated Vigna's conviction.

He was released on a $100,000 unsecured personal bond with a list of conditions, pending a new trial.

Soon after John Vigna’s convictions were vacated, Montgomery County Police said more victims came forward. FOX 5’s Maureen Umeh says one of them, a now 20-year-old woman, accuses Vigna of abusing her. 

Vigna was teaching at Cloverly Elementary School in Silver Spring before his arrest in 2016. Five students reported that they had been touched inappropriately while sitting in his lap. Vigna taught third, fourth and fifth grade over a span of 20 years at the school. He began working for MCPS in 1992.

The hearing today centers around a new case filed in November charging Vigna with sexual abuse of a minor and multiple third-degree sex offenses of a victim between Aug. 2011 and June 2014. Vigna’s trial date is set for April 22.