N.J. teacher taped child to desk for nearly an hour, cops say

A teacher in Passaic County was arrested Wednesday after an investigation revealed he taped a 9-year-old student to a desk for nearly an hour while a teacher’s aide failed to intervene, authorities said.

The teacher, Todd J. Lewis, 57, of Wayne, is charged with second-degree endangering the welfare of a child for an incident that allegedly occurred Oct. 30 in a classroom at Lenox Elementary School in Pompton Lakes.

The teacher’s aide, a 67-year-old woman who lives in Pompton Lakes, was issued a summons for fourth-degree cruelty and neglect of children, court records show. The woman was not arrested.

Police said they received a complaint in October that Lewis had placed masking tape around the back of the student’s neck and secured it to the child’s desk for approximately 40-50 minutes.

The teacher’s aide was present in the classroom the entire time and failed to stop the abuse, Passaic County Prosecutor Camelia M. Valdes said in a statement.

Lewis appeared in court Thursday and was released on pre-trial monitoring, with special release conditions prohibiting him from contacting minors, including the victim, Valdes said.

Both the teacher and the aide have been placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of court proceedings, school officials said.

“We want to assure our parents, students, staff and school community that we are working very closely with law enforcement to guarantee the safety and security of our students,” district Superintendent Paul Amoroso said in a statement.

“The employees were placed on leave when this matter was brought to the attention of the school administration and measures have been taken so that the individuals will not have any access to the school premises,” Amoroso said.

Attorney information for Lewis and the teacher’s aide were not contained in court records on Thursday.

Note: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated Lewis’s job title with the school district.