A former Williamsport Area High School student has chosen to cease legal action against suspended teacher Christopher Yoder, as well as current district teacher Mel Mitstifer, as the five remaining plaintiffs, all former students, have added new allegations in their sexual harassment suit against the district, a second amended complaint filed in Lycoming County court revealed, PennLive.com reported.

Yoder, who remains on suspension without pay, was found not guilty of unlawful contact with a minor, endangering the welfare of children, statutory and institutional sexual assault and other similar charges in two separate cases in November 2022 and December 2023, respectively.

A third case against Yoder for charges of unlawful contact with a minor, criminal solicitation of sexual abuse of children, endangering the welfare of children, corrupting the morals of a minor and two counts of harassment, was dismissed by District Judge Christian Frey in October 2022 on the grounds of insufficient evidence.

The plaintiffs in the ongoing civil suit argue that the district allowed Yoder to continue teaching despite knowing he “was a pedophile, a pervert and a creep,” according to PennLive.com.

His employment as a teacher from 2007 to 2011 put students at risk of serious harm, including sexual abuse and sexual harassment, they contend.

As part of the amended complaint, a female identified as A.P. has been removed, and the loss of consortium claim of her husband dropped. A type of personal injury, loss of consortium claims are typically brought by the spouse or close relative of a victim, who has suffered a loss of intagible benefits of a relationship, such as affection, companionship, comfort, or sexual relations, as a result of the initial offendind incident, according to Cornell Law School Legal Information Institute.

The new claims added in the amended suit focus on the location of Yoder’s classroom, which was allegedly situated in a rarely accessed section of C-wing where no surveillance cameras were located, according to PennLive.com.

The classroom itself was described as small, with few desks and tables used for small-group instruction or one-on-one work with students, with doors to the hallway and adjacent rooms being made of solid wood without windows, the complaint states, PennLive.com reported.

These structural features of the classroom posed a foreseeable danger when assigned to any teacher interacting privately with students, the former students argue, and by assigning Yoder this classroom, the district created “an inherently dangerous environment for unsupervised student-teacher interactions,” court documents said.

The plaintiffs allege that Mitstifer knew of Yoder’s alleged conduct, but failed to take action to prevent it.

A pending motion of dismissal against the first amended complaint by the district claimed it lacked evidence that it knew of Yoder’s alleged actions and did nothing to stop it, also rebutting a negligence claim, arguing that once it received reports of the allegations about Yoder, it acted on that information immediately, PennLive.com reported.

While the district holds that Yoder’s alleged conduct did not meet the burden of the law’s sexual abuse exception, Mitstifer argues that the claims against him are factually and legally insufficient.

The plaintiffs are seeking unspecified compensatory damages from the defendants, as well as punitive ones from Yoder on claims that include negligence and infliction of emotional distress.

Additionally, two of the females are seeking damages for assault and battery for alleged physical and sexual contact, according to PennLive.com.

Following his acquittal in December 2023, the district school board charged Yoder with failing to comply with the school laws of Pennsylvania by his alleged misconduct, accusing him of immorality, incompetency, intemperance, cruelty, negligence of duties and willful neglect of duties, PennLive.com previously reported.

The status of those proceedings, which could lead to termination, are private, and therefore, unknown.

Yoder has denied all allegations in the criminal and civil cases.