Police say Delaware teacher solicited student for sex on Instagram

In February, police charged George V. Kirk Middle School teacher David DiFilippo with sexual solicitation of a 13-year-old student. Authorities said DiFilippo was grooming the girl for sex with explicit messages and once rubbed her leg while she was alone with him in his classroom. The school is in the Christina School District.

Authorities announced Monday’s arrest of Vila within hours of him being taken into custody, accompanied by the promise to root out child predators at schools.

“Any case with a child victim is heinous. Cases where the abuser held a position of trust are beyond the pale,” Attorney General Kathy Jennings said in a written statement. “Child predators are our priority. We will find them, we will charge them without compromise, and we will bring them to justice.”

Unlike the Oliver case, where Red Clay officials never notified families about the fact that Oliver was under investigation or arrested, George Read’s principal sent school families a notice of a pending investigation on March 17, the day police interviewed the girl’s parents about Vila.

The letter from Principal Nick Wolfe didn’t say a teacher was suspected of soliciting a student but said the matter involved “a weekend incident involving members of the [school] community” and that “students were not in danger.”

After Monday’s arrest, district spokeswoman Lauren Wilson said in a statement that did not identify Vila that a George Read employee had been charged with “multiple criminal offenses” and that Colonial officials are “cooperating fully.”

Wilson’s statement noted that “the staff member has not been in the presence of students since the incident was reported.”

Wilson would not respond to questions from WHYY News about Wilson’s tenure teaching at George Read or coaching baseball and lacrosse at William Penn High School.

But Jennings’ office confirmed that he coached lacrosse in 2021 and 2022, and until the sex solicitation investigation began last week, Vila was assistant coach for the junior varsity baseball team.

State payroll records, however, show that Vila began working for Colonial in 2020. Last year, Vila was paid $72,100 by Colonial, including $5,000 in unspecified extra pay.

Anyone with information about Vila and possible criminal activity is urged to contact state police Det. Kevin Kelleher at 302-365-8436.

Editor’s note: This story has been updated to correct the description of how state police were notified of the alleged contact between Vila and the student.