Paterson teacher indicted on sex assault and prostitution charges, accused of stealing $200K

by: Seth Augenstein

nj

A John F. Kennedy High School teacher has been indicted on charges of sexually assaulting and promoting prostitution among his students, authorities said.

Thomas Weir, 51, was also arrested Wednesday on new counts of theft and money-laundering at his part-time job, added Camelia Valdes, the Passaic County Prosecutor.

Weir was originally arrested in February and accused of offering a student $50 over Facebook to perform a sex act, authorities said at the time. The following month, he was re-arrested for making similar offers with three of his former seventh-grade students, boys who ranged in age between 13 and 17, Valdes added.

While the investigation was ongoing, a victim who is now 37 years old came forward with allegations that Weir sexually assaulted him when he was between the ages of 10 and 16 while the older man would visit his home in Hawthorne, the prosecutor added.

The Paterson Board of Education suspended Weir following the arrests, authorities said.

Weir was arrested again on Wednesday, after an investigation by the prosecutor’s Financial Crimes Unit and the Paterson Public Schools Security Department, Valdes added. He is now accused of using his position as a bookkeeper at a Haledon granite company to take $200,000 over five years to pay off his personal credit cards, she added.

The indictment includes first-degree aggravated sexual assault, two counts of second-degree sexual assault, one count of second-degree sexual assault, four counts of second-degree promoting prostitution, and various counts of endangering the welfare of a child, attempted endangering the welfare of a child, luring or enticing a child, official misconduct, and third-degree counts of promoting prostitution, Valdes said.

First-degree aggravated sexual assault carries a maximum of 20 years in state prison, and the second-degree crimes carry a sentence of as long as 10 years, Valdes added.

The new charges are second-degree theft by deception and money laundering. The prosecutor has requested an additional $250,000 bail for those counts, Valdes said.

Weir had been charged in 2004 with criminal sexual contact of one of his male students at Passaic County Community College, but was acquitted.

This article was written by  Seth Augenstein and originally published on nj