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QUEENS--A former biology teacher at Cathedral High School in Manhattan, accused last month of sexually assaulting two underage students in Queens, has been charged with raping and sexually molesting three other underage high school students on five separate occasions in the Flushing and Long Island City sections of Queens.
Richard Ali, 27, of 91-48 115th Street in Richmond Hill, Queens, was, until last month, employed as a teacher at Cathedral High School, a Catholic college preparatory school for young women located at 350 East 56th Street in Manhattan.
"The charges are very disturbing" Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said. "Most of the incidents are alleged to have occurred on school afternoons and, in at least two instances, either in front of or inside the residence of one of the students. The consequences of such sexual assaults on young women by an individual they trusted and into whose care they were entrusted by their families are profound and can result in emotional trauma from which they may never recover."
Ali was arraigned before Queens Criminal Court Judge Joseph Zayas on charges of second- and third-degree rape, second-degree criminal sexual act, endangering the welfare of a child and third-degree sexual abuse. He faces up to seven years in prison if convicted, and was ordered held on $500,000 bail, to return to court on May 21.
Prosecutors allege that Ali raped a female student under the age of 16 at 3 p.m. on Friday, April 1, 2005, and then sexually abused her six days later on the afternoon of Thursday, April 7, 2005. The defendant is further charged with sexually abusing a second underage female student at 3 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 10, 2006, and then raping and molesting her the following day, and raping her once more eight days later on Saturday, Nov. 18, 2006. Finally, it is alleged that on Saturday, July 1, 2006, Ali sexually abused a third underage female student. All of the incidents are alleged to have taken place in Queens County.
District Attorney Brown noted that Ali was charged on March 28, with the statutory rape of one student and the sexual abuse of a second student. Ali had been released on $40,000 bail in that case and his next scheduled court appearance thereon is also May 21.
According to District Attorney Brown, an investigation began in last month when one of the students informed a school guidance counselor of the alleged sexual abuse. The guidance counselor, in turn, reported the incident to the school principal, who then reported it to the police. 4-28-07
© 2007 North
Country Gazette
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