A substitute teacher was charged Wednesday with sexually assaulting a 9-year-old special education student in a bathroom at Union Terrace Elementary School in Allentown.
Michael James Agrippine, 47, a married father of two from Upper Saucon Township, reportedly pushed the boy against a wall, held him from behind, pulled down his pants and molested him, Lehigh County District Attorney Jim Martin said.
Martin said the alleged assault took place on Friday but was not reported until Sunday, when the boy told his mother and she called Lehigh County Children and Youth Services. A child interview specialist from the county interviewed the boy Monday and police began an investigation.
Martin said Agrippine was not the boy's substitute teacher on Friday, but the boy encountered him in the bathroom near his classroom on the school's basement level. The boy had been taken to the bathroom by a female escort who waited outside.
According to the arrest affidavit, Agrippine acknowledged being in a bathroom stall with the boy, caressing him from behind and penetrating him with a finger.
The boy did not tell the escort what happened, Martin said, but told his mother of the assault on Sunday when she noticed he was acting strangely.
Agrippine was taken into custody Wednesday at his home and charged with aggravated indecent assault, a first-degree felony; institutional sexual assault, a third-degree felony; and indecent assault, a first-degree misdemeanor.
He was arraigned via video by District Judge Ronald Manescu, who set bail at $75,000. Agrippine, who can be freed if he posts 10 percent of the bail amount in cash, was committed to Lehigh County Prison.
During the arraignment, Agrippine insisted he is innocent, saying he is the father of two teen daughters and a respected member of the community and has never been in trouble before.
"He's strenuously proclaiming his innocence," said Agrippine's attorney, Ed Angelo of Allentown, noting that Agrippine has been teaching for 20 years. "He's 47 years old and has never had any criminal act at all, much less anything horrible like this. He's worked as a professional in that line of work, as a teacher with children of all ages. It's inexplicable from his position what's happened to him."
Agrippine also worked for the Roberto Clemente Charter School in Allentown, said Lupe Pearce, the school's founder. She said she did not have information on how long he was a Clemente teacher.
Allentown Superintendent Russ Mayo said Agrippine, who has been listed as a substitute at other area schools, was hired in the district this school year as a day-to-day substitute. He was cleared to teach after undergoing standard state and federal background checks.
"We're beginning our own investigation and looking thoroughly into this," Mayo said, adding that the district is providing "any support services we have" to help the boy.
Martin said his office had not contacted other schools about Agrippine, who lives at 6881 Main St. in Upper Saucon, outside Coopersburg. "If there are other complaints, they will come forward," he said.
The district attorney also commended Allentown school officials for their response to the incident.
Dalin Long was among parents who heard about the allegations near the end of the school day Wednesday.
"It's awful," said Long, who has three students attending Union Terrace. She said she wasn't familiar with Agrippine.
Long said she's never had concerns about the safety of the school, adding that it has been a "great experience" for her children.
"The teachers have always been great to our kids," Long said.
The district, under previous leadership, came under fire after alleged sexual assaults of four first-grade boys by a 12-year-old at Central Elementary School between December 2003 and March 2004. The alleged assaults occurred in bathroom stalls at the school.
The school district in 2007 created a Community/District Task Force on Student Safety and hired a paid crisis public relations consultant.
Last year, the school board approved an agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice to do a better job of monitoring and counseling students "who have a confirmed history of sexual harassment."
The agreement is part of the district's $825,000 settlement that ended a long-running lawsuit alleging educators didn't do enough to stop the 12-year-old from molesting younger boys at Central Elementary.
The federal consent decree went into effect during the 2012-13 school year and is supposed to last through the 2014-15 school year.
Under the agreement, the district was required to hire an independent consultant with expertise in addressing and preventing student-on-student harassment.
The agreement called for a consultant to help the district develop a sexual harassment policy and help identify potential trouble spots in schools and recommend how those places "are appropriately monitored."
It also called for the consultant to create policies and procedures to counsel, monitor and supervise students with a history of sexual harassment and that is consistent with student privacy and special education laws.
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Reporters Kevin Amerman and Frank Warner contributed to this story.
