Chris Bendann said he is not a perfect person.

But speaking at his sentencing on Tuesday in the Edward A. Garmatz U.S. Courthouse, Bendann said he is not the monster that federal prosecutors and families at the Gilman School portrayed him to be at trial.

Last year, Bendann was found guilty in U.S. District Court in Baltimore of sexual exploitation of a child, possession of child pornography and cyberstalking. He sexually abused a student, recorded videos of the molestation and harassed and tormented him into adulthood.

“I wouldn’t admit to something I know I didn’t do,” said Bendann, who worked at the private, independent all-boys school in Roland Park from 2007 to 2023. “I know I’m not guilty.”

But Bendann said he’s oddly grateful for the experience.

He said he’s gotten the opportunity meet people during his incarceration and hear their stories. He said he’s developed confidence. And he said he’s discovered who are his true friends.

Bendann then mentioned the Parable of the Unforgiving Servant in the Bible, Matthew 18:21-35. In the future, he said, he will not hold any ill-will toward members of the Gilman School community who testified against him.

Stating that the crime was cunning, calculated and cold, U.S. Senior District Judge James K. Bredar sentenced Bendann, 40, of Baltimore, to serve 35 years in federal prison — plus a lifetime on supervised release.

“I find it hard to find words to adequately describe the defendant’s cruelty,” Bredar said. “The defendant made his young victim’s life hell.”

Bredar said he would not have punished Bendann if he chose at sentencing to exercise his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination and remain silent.

But Bredar said Bendann was “overtly unrepentant” and “even defiant,” describing him as “dangerous.”

Though it’s true people have received sentences of 25 or 30 years in prison for cases that involve murder, Bredar said that’s because witnesses might be afraid to testify, or prosecutors fear they could lose at trial.

People must have confidence that teachers will not sexually abuse their students, Bredar said. Bendann, he said, broke that “sacred trust.”

“Mr. Bendann is a violator of public and private trust,” Bredar said. “He’s a criminal. He’s a sexual predator.”

Bendann met the student when he was in eighth grade and served as his teacher, adviser and coach.

During the trial, the student testified that Bendann drove him and his friends to Meadowood Regional Park or nearby to a hill at the St. Paul’s Schools campus to run laps naked as repayment for trips to McDonald’s or rides home.

The behavior, he told the jury, “just kept getting worse and worse.”

The FBI recovered eight videos that Bendann recorded of the sexual abuse. He can be heard, and even seen, in some of the clips.

At the time, the student was 16 or 17. Bendann referred to him by several nicknames including “Puppy.”

When the student left for college, Bendann blackmailed him and threatened to expose the nude images if he did not submit to various demands.

The Baltimore Banner does not identify people without their permission who are survivors of sexual abuse. He’s now 23.

In 2023, the Gilman School fired Bendann after learning about “several instances of inappropriate contact” with students off campus. Two weeks later, Baltimore County Police arrested him on charges including sexual abuse of a minor.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Maryland then took up the prosecution.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Colleen McGuinn pushed for a sentence of 35 years in prison, noting that prosecutors provided information that Bendann sexually abused two other children.

“The defendant used his image as a pillar of the Gilman community to access these children,” McGuinn said.

The student’s mother and father each spoke about how the crime has irrevocably affected their son and slammed Bendann for his refusal to accept responsibility. They described him as a privileged, narcissistic and manipulative predator.

“The defendant did not break our son. And he did not break our family,” the student’s mother said. “We cannot allow this monster to continue his reign of terror.”

Leading up to the trial, Bendann repeatedly professed his innocence.

In a statement posted on Facebook and Instagram, Bendann wrote that he was “wrongly accused of awful crimes.” He later held a news conference with his attorney at the time, Kobie Flowers, on the steps of the Baltimore County Courts Building.

Before jury selection was set to begin, Bendann refused to leave his cell at the Chesapeake Detention Facility. He showed up to court after the U.S. Marshals Service delivered him instructions that his presence was not optional.

Though Bendann then vowed to skip parts of his trial, he appeared every day.

When Bendann was found guilty at trial, prosecutors allege, he turned around, faced the gallery and mouthed, “I forgive you.”

But Christopher Nieto, one of Bendann’s attorneys, said he wanted to provide context.

Bendann, he said, dedicated his childhood and adult life to the Gilman School community. Nieto said there was a lot of conjecture and rumors circulating after police arrested his client — and he wanted to push back on the narrative.

Nieto read dozens of positive comments that Bendann’s former students left for him in notebooks.

At one point, Bredar interrupted him and stated, “I’ve got it. Move on.”

“He is so much more than the conduct that has been determined,” said Nieto, who requested a sentence of 20 years in prison.

Bendann’s father, Lance, said he felt sympathy and sadness for the survivors along with empathy for their parents. “As Chris’ dad, I will always love him,” he said.

When a deputy U.S. marshal started to walk Bendann out of the courtroom, he smiled, turned around to face the gallery and, once again, mouthed words at the crowd.