Sentencing delayed for local piano teacher facing life in prison for sexually assaulting students

Posted on July 11, 2022

*Aaron Parlier, center, a former Bloomington piano teacher charged with 38 sex crimes, arrives for his bench trial in McLean County Court, Monday, Oct. 18, 2021. (Photo courtesy Pantagraph/Pool)*

BLOOMINGTON – The sentencing for McLean County piano teacher Aaron Parlier, convicted of sexually assaulting students, was postponed on Friday. However, his punishment has already been determined. He’ll spend the rest of his life behind bars unless a higher court overturns his convictions.

Aaron Parlier, 41, was supposed to be sentenced Friday, but paperwork necessary to transport him from a state prison to the McLean County Law and Justice Center was not completed. Parlier will now be sentenced next month.

Parlier is serving 450 years in prison for predatory criminal sexual assault involving a student, and it’s required he receive a life sentence after Judge Casey Costigan in April found Parlier guilty of the same charge involving a second student between 2005 and 2018.

Costigan must also hand down consecutive sentences on almost a dozen other charges involving the same victim, including child pornography. Nine of the charges are Class 1 felonies, each carrying mandatory sentences of between four and 15-years in prison.

Parlier also faces charges filed in 2018 for allegedly molesting four other students. It’s not known whether the McLean County State’s Attorney’s office will try Parlier for those cases.

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