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Articles Posted in Sexual Abuse

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KIPP scholl where the sexual abused occurredA teacher at KIPP NYC who allegedly groomed and sexually abused a female student for years was recently arrested and the school’s principal was fired for not proprely handling the matter.

39 year old Cesar Sanchez, a science teacher at KIPP Washington Heights Middle School, started to make lewd and sexually suggestive comments to the victim when she was in fourth grade and became more and more aggressive in his behavior. By the time the girl was in seventh grade, he was groping her.  The abuse stopped when the class was remote during the covid19 lockdown and started again when students started to attend school in person again. According to the complaint, Sanchez touched the student’s breast and pushed his crotch against her. The abuse was discovered after another female student complained to her parents that Sanchez blurred student-teacher boundaries by asking her to be friends on Instagram which made her uncomfortable. The parents reached out to school officials and during a conversation with them the girl told them that she had heard Sanchez had been behaving inappropriately with another girl.

Sanchez was considered an excellent teacher and was the recipient of the 2018 New York Family “Blackboard Award”. He is married to another KIPP school principal and has two children.  He was arrested and arraigned on December 23rd and charged with sexual conduct against a child and endangering child welfare.

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A New York City assistant principal planned a sexual encounter with a 14 year old boy on Grindr and instead found himself facing an adult who filmed the encounter and uploaded it on Youtube. Earlier this year, 40 year old Claudio Garcia who works at Queens Technical High School in Long Island City as an assistant principal, was on Grindr and starting to chat with a boy who told him first that he was 18 but then said he was actually 14. Garcia then planned a meeting with him in a park that was supposedly near the boy’s Bronx house. When he arrived at the meeting, an adult man was there. The encounter was filmed and posted on YouTube.

The Police recently arrested Garcia and brought him to the 52nd Precinct to be questioned. He was then charged with attempted criminal sex act and disseminating indecent materials to minors.

Garcia was arraigned yesterday night in Bronx criminal court. While the DA consented to release Garcia without bail, Judge Audrey Stone ordered Garcia to be on supervised release. “Given the nature of Mr. Garcia’s status within the community and the very serious charges here, I believe supervised release at a minimum would be appropriate,” the judge said. “Mr. Garcia, I want to explain to you that I understand that the D.A.’s office is requesting release without any conditions, however, these are very significant changes.”

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Professor Daniel PollackWhen considering a civil lawsuit for sexual abuse, it is important for a victim or for the victim’s parents (if the victim is still a minor) to consider beforehand if the lawsuit will have have a net beneficial therapeutic effect or a traumatizing effect.

In a recent commentary in the New York Law Journal, Daniel Pollack a professor at Yeshiva University’s School of Social Work in New York City and  a Commissioner of Game Over, a commission to protect youth athletes, and Daniel F. Monahan, a board-certified trial attorney in Pennsylvania write about the unexpected emotional consequences that a sexual abuse lawsuit can have on the victim.

A traumatizing experience for the victim and the family

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sexual abuser Rigoberto GarciaThe FBI believes that dozens of underage girls have been sexually exploited by a man who lured them into filming sex acts in hotels by promising them modeling gigs. 33 year old Rigoberto Garcia, a Mexican man living illegally in the US has been recently arrested after the FBI found that he has been sexually exploiting girls under the age of 18 by  filming them having sex in hotel rooms since 2014. The FBI says dozen of  girls or more have been  abused and they are asking anyone who might have been victimized to call them at 212-384-1000.

Rigoberto Garcia, a wannabe actor, has been using several fake names that include “Chris Perez”, Nate Floriano”, “Sean Alvarez”, “Steven Skyler” or “David Schineberg”.

According to a federal court indictment, Garcia was was charged with multiple counts of coercion and enticement, and sexual exploitation of a minor in connection with seven underage victims. He is also facing charges with 4 other child victims.

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kipp logo48 year old Jesus Conception, a Bronx teacher, sexually abused students as young as 12 according to federal prosecutors. According to the New York Daily News, The man was a well known former middle school orchestra conductor at KIPP Academy. However allegations of abuse emerged in 2017 and the school cooperated with law enforcement to catch the preparator.

Jesus Conceprion who was raised in the Bronx and earned a degree at Julliard School was acclaimed by media as the most amazing teacher and orchestra conductor (see New York Times). However, Conception took advantage of his notoriety and power to prey on young victims. The man would identify students he thought were vulnerable and offer them gifts such as phones, money or alcohol and make them believe they were involved in a “romantic” relationship with him. Sexual abuse took place at school, in motel rooms and in his car, not only in New York but also in other states according to court documents.

Victims of child sexual abuse older than 55 year old have until August 14 to file a complaint under the New York Child Victim’s Act

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Professor Daniel PollackChild Protective Services mission is to protect children from all forms of physical and emotional abuse, sexual abuse, exploitation and neglect. It is a very powerful agency. In New York, CPS can remove children from their parents if “a single incident of excessive corporal punishment is sufficient to support a finding of neglect” (Matter of Eliora B. [Kennedy B.], 146 AD3d 772, 773, 45 N.Y.S.3d 144).”

In a recent commentary in the New York Law Journal, Daniel Pollack MSW, Esq., a professor at Yeshiva University’s School of Social Work in New York City and Christine M. Sarteschi, an  Associate Professor of Social Work and Criminology at Chatham University in Pittsburgh, PA ask if removing the child is sometimes more traumatizing than leaving the child at home? In other words, is Child Protective Services (CPS) knowingly, legally – yet ironically – committing an acknowledged act of child maltreatment that is more detrimental than the original act for which the parents were “substantiated”? To use the vernacular, is CPS sometimes taking children out of the frying pan and consciously placing them into the fire? Such removals are not in the best interest of the child. Unspoken, but quietly acknowledged, is that the child may be removed because CPS is concerned about its own liability more than it is concerned about the long-term safety of the child.

Read the commentary here

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Professor Daniel PollackFrom sexual abuse to physical or emotional abuse as well as maltreatment and neglect, child abuse can have various forms. It occurs when a parent or a caregiver causes injury or death to a child because of his or her action or failing to act.

Very often child abuse is discovered and reported by people surrounding the child. Each State has laws requiring “Mandated Reporters” to report concerns of child abuse. In New York, some professionals such as doctors, nurses, social workers, emergency healthcare workers, dentists, medical examiners coroners and other medical professionals are mandated to report any suspicion of child abuse.  Therapists and mental health counselors  as well as anyone working in the education system as well as police officers and district attorneys and some people working with them such as investigators are mandated to report any suspicion of child abuse.

Sometimes however, mandated reporters hesitate to report suspicion of child abuse. In a recent article, Dr. Michaela A. Medved, MA, TSSLD, CCC-SLP, ClinScD, a Clinical Assistant Professor at Yeshiva University’s Katz School of Science and Health in New York City and Daniel Pollack, MSW, Esq., a professor at Yeshiva University’s School of Social Work in New York City  explains why some mandated reporters hesitate in reporting their suspicions. They found in a previous study that reporters are more reluctant to report their concerns when the abuse is mild or less apparent or experienced by children with disabilities.

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Pollack and ReiterProtecting children from sexual abuse, mistreatment, emotional abuse or neglect is an every day combat that we should all join as a Nation.

In a recent article, Daniel Pollack,  an attorney and professor at Yeshiva University’s School of Social Work in New York City and Elisa Reiter,an attorney, Board Certified in Family Law and Child Welfare Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization, look back at 2020 and how the pandemic affected children suffering abuse.

School as a support to abused children

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the NY school where child sexual abuse took placeThe principal of an elementary school sexually abused students for years in Greece Town, Upstate New York.

51 year old, Kirk Ashton, the principal at Northwood Elementary School, in Greece Town, is accused of sexually abusing 9 boys between the age of 9 and 12 year old. Kirk has been a principal at the school since 2004 and the abuse went on for years.

The principal is facing 6 counts of first degree sexual abuse, 5 counts of second degree sexual abuse and 9 counts of endangering the welfare of a child

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A nyc school teacher was arrested for having sex with an underaged victim. 31 year old Zeshaan Naqvi is a teacher at The Young Women’s Leadership School in Jamaica, Queens, a girl only NYC public school serving more than 500 girls in Grades 6 through 12.

The teacher knew that the victim was underage

The sexual predator who lives in Queens Village in NYC met his victim, a teenage girl, online and knew she was underage. They chatted online for 3 months after which the teacher booked a flight ticket to Tampa and a hotel room on Falkenburg Road in Tampa, FL.