Hudson
04-22-2006, 07:16 AM
10-year term for sex with students
Ex-teacher guilty of assaulting 2 teenage girls
Posted by the Asbury Park Press on 04/22/06
COASTAL MONMOUTH BUREAU
FREEHOLD — Former music teacher and Eatontown Borough Councilman John J. Collins was sentenced to 10 years in state prison Friday on two counts of sexual assault involving two female former students, one 15 and the other 13 and 14 when the assaults occurred.
In accordance with a plea deal struck in December, Superior Court Judge Francis P. DeStefano sentenced the 58-year-old former Teacher of the Year to seven years for each second-degree sexual assault charge, to run concurrently, and three years for a witness tampering charge, a third-degree offense.
On release, Collins — an Eatontown Memorial School music teacher for 35 years and a borough councilman for 20 years — will be required to register as a sex offender under Megan's Law, and he will be subject to parole supervision for life.
DeStefano read from a court-mandated psychological evaluation that said Collins' actions were borne from "hedonism, opportunism and exploitation of his position for his own narcissistic gratification."
"That's the case in a nutshell," DeStefano said.
Collins spoke without a prepared statement before sentencing and called himself a "victim" of his own devices.
"I am a victim, a victim of extreme selfishness, with a good measure of stupidity thrown in," Collins said, adding that he was profoundly aware of the misery he caused to his victims and their families because of the turmoil it has caused his own family.
"Justice demands that I be punished. I understand that. I accept that," said Collins, who was accompanied to court by his wife, Patricia, and his son. "I don't like it, but I accept it."
Collins, who had been free on bail for the past year, was led away from the courtroom in handcuffs immediately following the sentencing.
The sentencing capped an emotional, hour-long proceeding that also included statements from family members of the two victims and a prepared statement from one of the victims, which was read by the girl's mother. Neither victim attended the hearing.
The Asbury Park Press is not revealing the names of the family members to protect the identities of the victims.
Monmouth County Assistant Prosecutor Thomas Fichter, who was prosecuting the case, later blasted Collins' remarks of calling himself a "victim."
"It is not only utterly outrageous, but dangerous," Fichter said to the court.
The statements from victims' family members followed Collins' remarks. Both angry and sad, the statements were so powerful that at one point DeStefano called for a recess so the stepfather of one victim, who broke down and cried seconds into his statement, could compose himself.
"I resent you," the stepfather said when he continued minutes later. "I resent the way you used these girls' love of music against them. You're a typical wolf in sheep's clothing."
The stepfather also said he took a modicum of solace from Collins' impending prison sentence.
"I hope it feels like an eternity," he said.
Collins has admitted that between May 2004 and March 2005 — while he carried the title of Memorial School Teacher of the Year (based on his 2003-04 performance) — he sexually assaulted the then-15-year-old girl, a former student of his at Memorial School.
In March 2005, school officials reported to authorities that a Monmouth Regional High School student had seen the two kissing. The tip launched an investigation that resulted in Collins' arrest later that month at a local diner.
Collins contacted the girl through the Internet in July while the investigation continued and he attempted to advise her on her statement to authorities, Collins has said earlier in court.
Collins also admitted he molested another former student between August 2000 and June 2001, when that girl was 13 and 14 years old. That girl came forward after she read newspaper accounts of Collins' first arrest.
The sexual relationships with each girl developed after they graduated from the middle school, but took place at the building after evening practices of the Eatontown Municipal Band, which Collins founded in 2000, prosecutors said. The school district allowed the Municipal Band to rehearse at the building, but it was not a school-sponsored activity.
Collins was immediately suspended with pay from his $79,131 teaching position with the Eatontown School District, in accordance with state law. He later retired effective June 1, 2005.
Collins also resigned from his post on the Borough Council, where he had served for 20 years.
The mother of the second girl, currently a college student studying abroad, read a statement from her daughter Friday in which she called her relationship with Collins a "psychological burden" that she kept a secret until learning of the other victim years later.
"I felt sick," her letter said. "The more it became clear that I was not the only one, the sicker I felt."
The father of the then 15-year-old girl was the last of the family members to speak.
Reading from a pages-long, typewritten statement, the father looked directly at Collins, repeatedly referring to him as "the predator."
"Who is this?" the father said, motioning to Collins, sitting just three feet away in the courtroom jury box. "He lived among us for 32 years as a single, sexual predator cell."
The father also said Collins methodically planned his actions and "silently stalked his victims, whom he chose very carefully."
While Collins played the role of mentor to his victims, "you will now be the student with infinite mentors awaiting you," the father said, referring to prison inmates Collins will encounter."May you receive the maximum sentence to be imposed by this court." The Collins family members declined to comment after the sentencing.
Ex-teacher guilty of assaulting 2 teenage girls
Posted by the Asbury Park Press on 04/22/06
COASTAL MONMOUTH BUREAU
FREEHOLD — Former music teacher and Eatontown Borough Councilman John J. Collins was sentenced to 10 years in state prison Friday on two counts of sexual assault involving two female former students, one 15 and the other 13 and 14 when the assaults occurred.
In accordance with a plea deal struck in December, Superior Court Judge Francis P. DeStefano sentenced the 58-year-old former Teacher of the Year to seven years for each second-degree sexual assault charge, to run concurrently, and three years for a witness tampering charge, a third-degree offense.
On release, Collins — an Eatontown Memorial School music teacher for 35 years and a borough councilman for 20 years — will be required to register as a sex offender under Megan's Law, and he will be subject to parole supervision for life.
DeStefano read from a court-mandated psychological evaluation that said Collins' actions were borne from "hedonism, opportunism and exploitation of his position for his own narcissistic gratification."
"That's the case in a nutshell," DeStefano said.
Collins spoke without a prepared statement before sentencing and called himself a "victim" of his own devices.
"I am a victim, a victim of extreme selfishness, with a good measure of stupidity thrown in," Collins said, adding that he was profoundly aware of the misery he caused to his victims and their families because of the turmoil it has caused his own family.
"Justice demands that I be punished. I understand that. I accept that," said Collins, who was accompanied to court by his wife, Patricia, and his son. "I don't like it, but I accept it."
Collins, who had been free on bail for the past year, was led away from the courtroom in handcuffs immediately following the sentencing.
The sentencing capped an emotional, hour-long proceeding that also included statements from family members of the two victims and a prepared statement from one of the victims, which was read by the girl's mother. Neither victim attended the hearing.
The Asbury Park Press is not revealing the names of the family members to protect the identities of the victims.
Monmouth County Assistant Prosecutor Thomas Fichter, who was prosecuting the case, later blasted Collins' remarks of calling himself a "victim."
"It is not only utterly outrageous, but dangerous," Fichter said to the court.
The statements from victims' family members followed Collins' remarks. Both angry and sad, the statements were so powerful that at one point DeStefano called for a recess so the stepfather of one victim, who broke down and cried seconds into his statement, could compose himself.
"I resent you," the stepfather said when he continued minutes later. "I resent the way you used these girls' love of music against them. You're a typical wolf in sheep's clothing."
The stepfather also said he took a modicum of solace from Collins' impending prison sentence.
"I hope it feels like an eternity," he said.
Collins has admitted that between May 2004 and March 2005 — while he carried the title of Memorial School Teacher of the Year (based on his 2003-04 performance) — he sexually assaulted the then-15-year-old girl, a former student of his at Memorial School.
In March 2005, school officials reported to authorities that a Monmouth Regional High School student had seen the two kissing. The tip launched an investigation that resulted in Collins' arrest later that month at a local diner.
Collins contacted the girl through the Internet in July while the investigation continued and he attempted to advise her on her statement to authorities, Collins has said earlier in court.
Collins also admitted he molested another former student between August 2000 and June 2001, when that girl was 13 and 14 years old. That girl came forward after she read newspaper accounts of Collins' first arrest.
The sexual relationships with each girl developed after they graduated from the middle school, but took place at the building after evening practices of the Eatontown Municipal Band, which Collins founded in 2000, prosecutors said. The school district allowed the Municipal Band to rehearse at the building, but it was not a school-sponsored activity.
Collins was immediately suspended with pay from his $79,131 teaching position with the Eatontown School District, in accordance with state law. He later retired effective June 1, 2005.
Collins also resigned from his post on the Borough Council, where he had served for 20 years.
The mother of the second girl, currently a college student studying abroad, read a statement from her daughter Friday in which she called her relationship with Collins a "psychological burden" that she kept a secret until learning of the other victim years later.
"I felt sick," her letter said. "The more it became clear that I was not the only one, the sicker I felt."
The father of the then 15-year-old girl was the last of the family members to speak.
Reading from a pages-long, typewritten statement, the father looked directly at Collins, repeatedly referring to him as "the predator."
"Who is this?" the father said, motioning to Collins, sitting just three feet away in the courtroom jury box. "He lived among us for 32 years as a single, sexual predator cell."
The father also said Collins methodically planned his actions and "silently stalked his victims, whom he chose very carefully."
While Collins played the role of mentor to his victims, "you will now be the student with infinite mentors awaiting you," the father said, referring to prison inmates Collins will encounter."May you receive the maximum sentence to be imposed by this court." The Collins family members declined to comment after the sentencing.