Trini-born teacher on sex charges in NY

05.APR.07

NEW YORK – 27-year-old Trinidadian-born Catholic High School teacher was on Thursday slapped with charges of statutory rape of a student and the sexual abuse of another.

The man is alleged to have assaulted the two young women who attend the Cathedral High School, a Catholic college preparatory school in Manhattan, New York, where he is employed. {{more}}He faces three counts of third-degree rape, two counts of endangering the welfare of a child and one count of third-degree sexual abuse. If convicted, he faces up to four years in prison.

One of the criminal complaints referred to the defendant allegedly having sexual intercourse with a minor.

It further stated that during the 2006-2007 school year, the defendant placed several phone calls to another student, a minor, and spoke about wanting to have sex with the student. It is also alleged that in February 2007, the defendant and the student were together at a cinema when the defendant inappropriately touched the student.

An investigation began last week when one of the students informed a school guidance counsellor of the alleged sexual abuse.

The defendant was subsequently arrested on Wednesday, arraigned on Thursday where a Queens Criminal Court judge set bail at $40,000, granted orders of protection for both victims and set a return date of April 9, 2007.