By PATRICK ADRIAN
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CLAREMONT — Former mayor and substitute teacher George Caccavaro, 78, faces sexual assault charges pertaining to allegations of having inappropriate physical contact with a Stevens High School student in February.
Caccavaro, a longtime Claremont resident, turned himself in to the Claremont Police Department on Monday in response to an arrest warrant issued last week. The warrant charges Caccavaro with two misdemeanor counts of sexual assault.
According to the affidavit, Caccavaro worked as a classroom assistant in the Life Skills program at Stevens High School. The program teaches independent living skills to students with special needs. As part of the program, Caccavaro would escort two students, including the alleged victim, to the Claremont Animal Shelter, where he and the students would play with the cats in the socialization room.
On Tuesday, Feb. 5, during one of the Life Skills visits, two volunteer employees at the shelter allegedly witnessed Caccavaro and one of the students, a 20-year-old female, in an inappropriate embrace. According to Claremont Detective Casey Piehl’s report, one shelter volunteer said she witnessed Caccavaro and the student in an embrace, with Caccavaro “rubbing his hands along [the student’s] sides and hip area.”
The second volunteer told Piehl that she witnessed Caccavaro allegedly slide his hands down the student’s back and cup her buttocks.
The Claremont School District learned of the alleged incident from Cheryl Bromley, shelter supervisor, who notified the school on the same day.
On Tuesday, Claremont Superintendent Michael Tempesta said in a statement that the district terminated Caccavaro’s employment immediately upon learning of the allegations.
“The district moved expeditiously to investigate and ultimately separate Mr. Caccavaro from employment with the Claremont School District,” Tempesta stated. “The Claremont School District fully cooperated with the Claremont Police Department in the investigation.”
Stevens High School Principal Pat Barry reported another incident that occurred prior to Christmas vacation in December 2018 involving Caccavaro and the student, according to the affidavit. Barry told School Resource Officer Crystal Simonds that a teacher had reported seeing Caccavaro give the student a kiss on the cheek. When Barry addressed Caccavaro about the matter, he reportedly told Barry that he thinks of the student like a granddaughter and had given her a kiss on the forehead.
Barry had reportedly advised Caccavaro to focus on working with other students. Barry reportedly said that she was unaware that Caccavaro was still chaperoning the trips to the shelter following her last conversation with him before the new year.
Caccavaro met with Piehl for an interview on Oct. 9. Following the interview, Piehl received two emails sent by Caccavaro, one later in the morning and a second on Oct. 10.
In his letters to Piehl, Caccavaro confirmed that he touched the student inappropriately as described by the witnesses, and that he knew what he did was wrong.
“Please understand that I didn’t enter that room intendending to do anything like what happened,” Caccavaro wrote in his Oct. 10 letter. “She hugged me unlike any other time. This was a full-frontal hug and she held it longer and tighter than she ever had. It affected me physically… It’s pretty obvious that deep down I knew what I had done was wrong and self-serving. As the adult in the room, it was my responsibility to ensure nothing like this happened.”
Following his release from the Claremont School District, Caccavaro was hired by the Newport School District as its finance officer.
In a Tuesday letter to the public, Newport Interim Superintendent Brendan Minniham said that he learned from Caccavaro on Friday morning of the incident and criminal charges, and that he was placed on administrative leave.
Minniham also said that Caccavaro intended to submit his resignation.
The Newport School District plans to employ a part-time business administrator in the short-term to work one to two days per week on budget preparation for the 2020-21 school year.
The district will form a search committee to oversee the process to hire a permanent business administrator.
Caccavaro was released later that same day on recognizance bail and is scheduled to appear in Sullivan County Circuit Court on Dec. 2.
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