CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (WDEF)- On Thursday night, Duane Sanders was convicted of 15 child sex abuse counts including a count of aggravated child rape.

Sanders had been a first grade teacher at Wallace A. Smith Elementary School when multiple children came forward and said they had been abused by him.

Seven of those children and their parents elected to testify against Sanders.

Hamilton County District Attorney Coty Wamp is calling those who testified the “Heroic Seven” as she says that their bravery led to his conviction.

General Wamp said, “It was honestly sort of miraculous to watch how each of them would look Duane Sanders right in the face and sit there and tell the jury what he did to them. I can’t imagine being eight years old and being able to do that and their stories were consis

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