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MANHATTAN---A teacher at a private elementary school has been indicted for raping two former male students. One of the victims was 13 years old when the abuse started, the other victim was 12 years old, according to prosecutors.
For over 16 years, Lina Sinha, 40, had been the director and a teacher at the Montessori International School of New York, a private elementary school that her parents founded in 1969 at 347 East 55th Street. On Oct. 28, 2005, Sinha was arraigned in Manhattan Criminal Court on charges of second degree sodomy, third degree rape and third degree sodomy for offenses committed with the 13-year-old student.
Manhattan District Attorney Robert M. Morgenthau said the ongoing investigation revealed that from the beginning of June 1996 and continuing for several years, Sinha allegedly sexually assaulted a male pupil, which started when the victim was 13 years old and in eighth grade. In addition, the investigation discovered that for over a year, beginning in January 2001, she allegedly sexually assaulted another male student, starting when this victim was 12 years old and in seventh grade.
The investigation also revealed that on approximately 10 different occasions in 2005, falsely assuming the identity of another woman, Sinha allegedly filed false reports with the New York Police Department in person, by phone, and e-mail falsely claiming that the 13-year-old had both assaulted the other woman and raped the woman's niece. These alleged offenses did not in fact occur, according to prosecutors.
In 2005, the Manhattan District Attorney's Office subpoenaed records from the Montessori International School of New York. The records provided in response to this subpoena should have included athe 12-year-old's files, but initially those files were not provided, Morgenthau said. The investigation revealed that the defendant had allegedly concealed those files from investigators. In addition, the investigation revealed that during the month of January 2006, Sinha had allegedly bribed the 12-year-old (took him shopping for sneakers, gave him $400 in cash, bought him a pre-paid phone) in an attempt to prevent him from testifying before the Grand Jury.
Sinha has been indicted for four counts of third degree rape, three counts of second degree rape, 14 counts of third degree rape, five counts of second degree sodomy, 36 counts of third degree sodomy, two counts of bribing a witness, tampering with physical evidence, endangering the welfare of a child, four counts of criminal impersonation in the second degree, tampering with a witness in the fourth degree, and 10 counts of falsely reporting an incident in the third degree.
The investigation is continuing, according to prosecutors.
http://www.northcountrygazette.org/articles/102805StatutoryRape.html
5-30-06
© 2006 North
Country Gazette
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