Two staff members for a Bergen County Catholic high school have been indicted for sex offenses and other charges for their alleged actions with students while chaperoning a 10-day trip to Europe.
The school's vice president of operations and an assistant football coach were both arrested after the Bergen County Prosecutor's Office Sex Crimes and Child Abuse Unit conducted an investigation into claim that the men had sex with three students while on the trip.
Prosecutors claim that sexual misconduct took place in Germany while the group of students was on a trip to Belgium and Germany in February.
The school's vice president of operations, who is from River Edge, was charged with 12 second-degree sexual assault charges and five counts of child endangerment. He was also charged with two counts of witness tampering after he allegedly tried to convince two students to not cooperate with investigators. The man, who graduated from the school where he was once a star athlete, was released from jail on $225,000 bail.
Another female came forward after the initial allegations and claimed that she was sexually active with the vice president of operations when she was a student at the school in 2010.
The assistant football coach, a 28-year-old man from Elmwood Park, was charged with three counts of second-degree sexual assault and three counts of child endangerment.
He also graduated from the school where he was a star football player before attending Rutgers University.
He posted $50,000 bail and was freed from jail pending a court hearing. Court dates for both of the men have yet to be set.
Source: Cliffview Pilot: "Grand jury indictments in Paramus Catholic sex with students case," Jerry Demarco, Dec. 21, 2011