Ex-Shore Reg'l teacher to face trial again
Alleged incident with 2nd female student at 2003 prom
BY SUE MORGAN
Staff Writer

WEST LONG BRANCH - The former Shore Regional High School teacher and coach who previously confessed to endangering the welfare of a child will face trial again for a separate incident involving a second female student.

That incident relates to physical contact and official misconduct that the ex-teacher and coach, William O'Leary, allegedly exhibited in May 2003 while he was chaperoning Shore Regional's junior prom.

O'Leary, 35, of Manasquan, was indicted on charges related to the prom incident on Nov. 15 by a Monmouth County grand jury in Freehold, according to a press release issued that day by Monmouth County Prosecutor Luis Valentin.

The grand jury indictment charged O'Leary with second degree official misconduct, second-degree endangering the welfare of a child, and fourth-degree criminal sexual contact.

A onetime math teacher who also coached boys' baseball, basketball and football at the high school, O'Leary had been asked to chaperone the prom as one of the duties of his employment, Valentin said.

An investigation by the Sex Crimes/Child Abuse Unit of the county Prosecutor's Office revealed that while performing his chaperoning duties, O'Leary, intoxicated at the time, committed an act of sexual contact upon a 17-year-old student in attendance at the prom, Valentin went on.

The female student involved in the prom incident was not the same Shore Regional student who O'Leary has admitted to having an "inappropriate relationship" with between August 2001 and December 2003, according to the ex-teacher's attorney, Cathy Waldor of Wall Township.

O'Leary will plead innocent when he faces trial on the latest charges at a date to be determined, Waldor said.

The circumstances surrounding the latest charges involving the second female victim are much more complex than they might appear, said Waldor, who also represented him in the case where he pleaded guilty to endangering the welfare of a child.

"I believe everything will come out at trial," Waldor said. "[O'Leary] is a good man with a good family."

The two young victims, both former Shore Regional students, are also "good people from good families," Waldor said.

In the end, however, the connection between the accounts given by both young females and by O'Leary will turn out to be "very interesting," she noted.

Now free on his own recognizance after last week's indictment, O'Leary has been working in construction and does not want to return to teaching, a profession he once enjoyed, Waldor said.

"He has no desire to teach anymore," Waldor said. "He feels he was betrayed by his kindness."

After admitting in March to engaging in the improper relationship with the first victim, O'Leary forfeited his teaching certificate, Valentin has said.

He has not worked as a teacher at Shore Regional or any other school since September 2004 when that high school's school board fired him. His release came after county and local authorities notified the board about the investigation into O'Leary's more-than two-year relationship with the student, Valentin said.

That relationship took place over a period when the student was 14 and 16, according to the Prosecutor's Office. She has since graduated.

To date, authorities have not released the names of either victim.

If convicted of official misconduct, O'Leary faces a maximum sentence of 10 years incarceration. He also faces a maximum sentence of 10 years incarceration if convicted of endangering the welfare of a child and 18 months incarceration if convicted of criminal sexual contact, Valentin said.

"Educators have an absolute responsibility to protect and teach children and should act as role models to their students," Valentin said in the press release.

"This defendant abused his position as an educator," the prosecutor went on. "This office remains committed to protecting the youngest members of our society, especially while they are attending a school activity."

Sentencing for the child endangerment charges, a third-degree offense, is scheduled for Jan. 8, Waldor said.

A year before he pleaded guilty to the child endangerment charges, O'Leary was indicted in March 2005, by a Monmouth County grand jury on seven counts related to the charges, including aggravated sexual assault, aggravated criminal contact and child endangerment.

Authorities have said that O'Leary met the first victim while she was his eighth-grade student at Frank Antonides School in West Long Branch.

After the girl moved on to ninth grade at Shore Regional, O'Leary asked the West Long Branch Board of Education to transfer him to the high school, according to the Prosecutor's Office.

Authorities have stated that O'Leary maintained contact with the victim and that she also worked for him at several area swim clubs during the summers.