A Long Island teacher and girls’ lacrosse coach was arrested on Thursday for having sex with a teenage student, cops said.
Timothy Harrison, 46, allegedly had sex with a 15-year-old girl while working as a special education teacher and lacrosse coach in the Babylon School District in 2013, according to Suffolk County Police.
“Today’s announcement of the arrest of a Babylon school teacher for rape is disturbing,” Suffolk Police Commissioner Rodney Harrison said during a press conference.
“The rape occurred off school grounds, however the victim indicated there was inappropriate physical contact while at the school,” he added.
The department was alerted about the sexual relationship by the Babylon school district in 2021 and launched an investigation.
Harrison was arrested during a traffic stop on the Robert Moses Causeway Thursday morning and booked on two counts of rape in the third degree and one count of a criminal sex act.
The alleged rapist was being held in Suffolk County’s First Precinct Thursday night and was set to be arraigned at First District Court in Central Islip Friday.
School Superintendent Linda Rozzi called the allegations “disturbing.”
“These allegations are extremely disturbing, and our thoughts are with the victim,” she said Thursday.
“The district and Board of Education have zero tolerance towards such heinous acts and take all claims of this nature very seriously. We will continue to make the safety and well-being of our students and staff our top priority.”
Commissioner Harrison commended the victim for her bravery.
“Her courage will give other victims of similar abuse the courage to come forward,” he said.
However, one alumni of the school district said there were more predators that police needed to investigate.
“At one point, they said, ‘This is the only criminal that we’ve stumbled across,’” Barbara Maier said told Patch.com about the police briefing.
“Which isn’t true, because every single one of us was a victim of a crime.”