Former Boston teacher gets 4 years in prison for abuse of student

A former Boston Public Schools teacher who pleaded guilty to sexually abusing a former student starting when she was 12 years old has been sentenced to four years in prison.

David Lockwood, 54, of Arlington, was a teacher at the James P. Timilty Middle School in the city's Roxbury neighborhood at the time of the assaults, which started in 1996 and continued until 2000, according to a statement Monday from the office of Suffolk County District Attorney Rachael Rollins.

Lockwood, who pleaded guilty to four counts of child rape, was also sentenced by a judge to two years of probation, and ordered to undergo sex offender treatment and register as a sex offender.

He was indicted in 2017 after the now-adult victim came forward.

Lockwood used his position as a teacher to gain the girl's trust, prosecutors said. He would often drive her to school-sponsored events and it was during one of those drives that the abuse began, prosecutors said.

“This individual used his position of trust and authority to gain access to his victim and to maintain an unequal power dynamic that kept her silent and under his control. These are the actions of a predator," Rollins said.