(Trinidad Express) Pupils at an all-girls prestige high school busted a biology teacher who took up duties last week, revealing that he was convicted in the United States a few years ago, on charges of sexually assaulting five of his female pupils.
The sex offender managed to slip through the cracks and landed himself a temporary job at the prestige school after a female biology teacher went on maternity leave.
He was hired for a three-month period after he was interviewed and the school’s management was very impressed with his credentials.
The school teacher, who is 32, but was 25 when the offences were committed, according to the New York Times, was convicted and sent to jail for four years after he pleaded guilty on charges of sexually assaulting five pupils of the Cathedral High School, Manhattan, between 2005 and 2007.
The teacher, who was deported back to Trinidad after serving his sentence in a Manhattan jail, was busted by a Form One pupil at the prestige school who decided to Google his name through the internet. To her amazement, several stories, including images of her school teacher, popped-up, indicating that he was convicted of crimes against female pupils in the US.
The pupil immediately printed some of the documents and took them to the principal who did her own internet searches before summoning the teacher to her office. He was later told that his services were no longer required and escorted out of the school’s compound by the principal.
The Sunday Express understands that the teacher was hired last Tuesday and sent packing by the school’s principal two days later.
In 2008, the teacher pleaded guilty on January 8 to second-degree rape, third-degree rape and sexual abuse involving pupils at the all-girls US school.
He admitted in court that he assaulted the pupils between 2005 and 2007 after school hours in his car and at a movie theatre. The victims were all under 17. Police began investigating after one of the girls alerted a school guidance counsellor.
According to the New York Times, after the teacher was charged by prosecutors with the offences, he began to harass his victims and enlisted other pupils to help him.
The report added that the teacher attempted to thwart the police investigation into his after-school antics by calling his victims directly and “begging the girls not to say anything because it would get him in trouble”, Assistant District Attorney Donna Marie Golia had told the court during the trial.
Richard A Brown, of the Office of the Queens District Attorney in 2008 is quoted as saying, “This teacher destroyed his pupils’ trust and will now pay the price for his crimes in prison.”
Shortly before his arrest and conviction, the teacher received a Manhattan Media Blackboard Award for being an “outstanding teacher” and was featured in two local newspapers, the Catholic school’s Website said.
He also started his own Website where pupils could check class notes and review test material and homework assignments.
In his last note on the site, he wrote: “The exam on Monday will contain material on only the female reproductive system and associated material.”
Commenting on the incident involving the teacher, one pupil said on a teacher-rating Web site: “He’s all right, he can be funny and helpful, but he also uses sarcasm. It’s just funny. He’s a real good teacher.”
The teacher was also a soccer coach at the school.
