Perth Amboy teacher convicted of sex assault

teacherverification May 8, 2012 0

A Perth Amboy middle school teacher was convicted on Monday of sexually assaulting a female student over a five-year period, beginning when she was 13, Middlesex County Prosecutor Bruce J. Kaplan announced.

Guillermo Santamaria, also known as William Santamaria, 58, of Elizabeth Street in Perth Amboy, was found guilty of aggravated sexual assault, two counts of sexual assault and two counts of official misconduct, including a charge that he had sex with the student on school property after she turned 18.

A jury deliberated about two hours in New Brunswick before finding the defendant guilty of all five counts.

Following the conviction, Superior Court Judge Dennis Nieves revoked Santamaria’s $250,000 bail. The defendant will be held at the Middlesex County Adult Correction Center in North Brunswick to await sentencing.

Santamaria will be sentenced to a prison term of up to 30 years when he appears on Sept. 28 before Judge Dennis Nieves.

During a five-day trial that began on April 24, Middlesex County Assistant Prosecutor Lynn Pilone presented evidence and testimony showing that Santamaria, a social studies teacher for 16 years in Perth Amboy, sexually assaulted the girl on numerous occasions in from the fall of 1997 up to the victim’s 18th birthday in 2002.

An investigation by Michael Daniewicz and Dave Carmen, both investigators for the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office, determined that the victim was a student in Perth Amboy at the time of the offenses.

The investigation began after the victim contacted the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office in April 2010.

Source : mycentraljersey

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