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Former JFK High School Teacher Charged with Sexually Abusing Teen
Putnam County Sheriff Donald B. Smith reports the arrest of a Wappinger Falls man on charges of sexual abuse, endangering the welfare of a child and unlawful imprisonment, all allegedly committed against a 15-year-old Putnam County girl. The charges against William Menchen, aged 34, of Wappinger Falls, stem from a romantic relationship that he allegedly had with the victim.
According to Sheriff Smith, Mr. Menchen formerly worked as a physical education teacher and boy's baseball coach at John F. Kennedy Catholic HS, located in Somers in Westchester County. It was there that he first met and befriended the victim, a student, during the 2005-6 school year. Mr. Menchen reportedly left the employ of Kennedy High in the beginning of the 2006-7 school year. He subsequently took a job as a teacher's assistant at Rye Neck HS, and held that position at the time of his arrest on October 4, 2007.
Investigators say that Mr. Menchen and the student continued to communicate with each other after he had left Kennedy and arranged meetings without her parents' knowledge. It is alleged that the relationship between the defendant and the victim turned physical in June of this year and that the defendant touched her in a sexual manner during several encounters in June, July and August. By law, the victim is deemed incapable of giving legal consent to such contact because she is a minor.
Mr. Menchen's encounters with the girl allegedly took place in the Town of Kent. On some occasions, the defendant reportedly took the girl in his car and drove her to other places outside Kent. The girl's parents were unaware of the activities.
Information about the illicit relationship first came to the attention of the Westchester County DA's office, which referred the matter to the Putnam County DA's office. That Office, in turn, notified the Sheriffs Dept. Sheriff's Investigators Vincent M. Martin and John Alfano and attorneys in the Putnam DA's office investigated the case.
On October 4, Investigator Martin arrested Mr. Menchen at the Sheriff's Office headquarters in Carmel, charging him with six criminal counts: one count of Sexual Abuse in the Third Degree, three counts of Endangering the Welfare of a Child and two counts of Unlawful Imprisonment in the Second Degree. The Sexual Abuse charge is a class B misdemeanor, punishable upon conviction by up to three months in jail and a $500 fine. The other charges are class A misdemeanors, punishable upon conviction by up to one year in jail and a $1,000 fine on each count.
The Sexual Abuse charge alleges that Mr. Menchen subjected the victim to sexual contact. The Endangering charge alleges that the defendant acted in a manner likely to be injurious to the physical, mental or moral welfare of a child less than 17 years old. The Unlawful Imprisonment charge is based upon the defendant's using his car to move a person less than 16 years old from one place to another without parental consent.
Mr. Menchen was arraigned before Kent Town Justice Joseph Esposito, who remanded him to the Putnam County Correctional Facility in lieu of $15,000 cash bail. The defendant was lodged in the jail overnight and was released the following day after the bail was posted.
Justice Esposito issued an Order of Protection directing Mr. Menchen to stay away from and refrain from communicating with the victim. The defendant is scheduled to return to the Kent Justice Court on October 16 for further proceedings in the case.
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