District Attorney Gavin P. Holihan announced a former Parkland School District administrator charged with secretly recording a student without his consent has pleaded guilty to all charges.

Francis Anonia, 44, of Allentown, was charged in 2024 with five counts each of intercept communications and criminal use of a communication facility, all felonies; as well as nine misdemeanor counts of invasion of privacy.

At a hearing Dec. 1 before Judge Robert L. Steinberg, Anonia pleaded guilty to all charges.

Steinberg ordered Anonia’s bail revoked and Anonia was taken into custody.

Anonia faces a possible sentence of 44 to 88 years in state prison and will be required to register as a sex offender for at least the next 15 years.

An evaluation will be done to determine if Anonia must register for the rest of his life.

Anonia’s sentence date is scheduled 9:30 a.m. Feb. 12, 2026.

On April 2, 2024, an investigation began into a complaint made by a Childline referral request about Anonia during his time at the Parkland School District.

On Feb. 23, 2023, Anonia’s cellphone had been seized by Allentown police in connection with an investigation surrounding Anonia’s live-in fiancé and former student, William Marshall.

Marshall entered a guilty plea to possession of child sexual abuse material and was sentenced to 11 1/2 to 23 months in Lehigh County Jail.

Anonia’s cellphone was not analyzed at that time and Anonia never requested his cellphone be returned to him.

The phone remained in possession of police and during an April 16, 2024 interview with Lehigh County detectives, Anonia agreed to abandon his cellphone.

Following the April 2, 2024 Childline referral and a subsequent press release from Parkland School District, a number of former students and teachers came forward to report inappropriate behavior by Anonia.

Authorities received an additional Childline referral in late April 2024.

In May 2024, a Court of Common Pleas judge authorized a search warrant permitting investigators to gain access to Anonia’s cellphone.

During that search, authorities discovered Anonia had surreptitiously recorded videos and pictures of a student.

This case was investigated by Lehigh County Detective Gregg Dietz and was prosecuted by Chief Deputy District Attorney Sara A. Moyer.