Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office

                                 25 Kirkpatrick Street, 3rd Floor, New Brunswick, New Jersey, 08901 (732) 745-3300

 

                                *News Release*           Date: May 21, 2010

 
 

       

 

 

 

 

 

Teacher arrested on child sex assault, misconduct charges

 

 

          Middlesex County Prosecutor Bruce J. Kaplan and Acting Chief E. J. McDonald of the Perth Amboy Police Department announced that a Perth Amboy middle school teacher was arrested this morning and charged with sexually assaulting a female student over a six-year period, beginning when she was 13 years old.

 

Guillermo Santamaria, also known as William Santamaria, (DOB 9/10/53) of Elizabeth Street in Perth Amboy, was charged with aggravated sexual assault, sexual assault, endangering the welfare of a child and official misconduct.

 

He is being held at the Middlesex County Adult Correction Center in North Brunswick in lieu of $250,000 bail, which was set by Superior Court Judge Bradley Ferencz. The judge ruled Santamaria must post the full amount before he can be released from custody.

 

Santamaria, a teacher for 16 years in Perth Amboy, taught social studies at the Samuel E. Shull School, and previously worked at the William C. McGinnis School. Both are middle schools for students in grades five through eight. He also is an adjunct professor in the software engineering department at Monmouth University.

 

An investigation by Michael Daniewicz and Dave Carmen, both investigators for the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office, determined that Santamaria sexually assaulted the girl on numerous occasions in Perth Amboy from the fall of 1997 up to the victim’s 18th birthday in 2004.

 

The victim was a student in Perth Amboy at the time of the offenses.

 

The investigation began after the victim contacted the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office in April 2010.

 

Anyone with information on this, or similar incidents, is asked to contact Investigator Daniewicz, or Investigator Carmen at (732) 745-3600.

 

As is the case for all criminal defendants, the charges against Santamaria are merely accusations and he is presumed innocent until proven guilty.