Queens

Queens Teacher Preyed on Female Students, Threatened One's Life Over Texts: DA

The 31-year-old teacher is accused of threatening the life of a teenage student if she revealed the text messages he sent to her

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A Queens high school teacher arrested this week for allegedly harassing two female students in the matter of a couple days, threatened at least one of them to keep his actions quiet, the district attorney said.

Shannon Hall, 31, faces charges including forcible touching, endangering the welfare of a child and aggravated harassment. Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz said is a teacher at Jamaica Gateway to the Sciences High School.

Hall allegedly grabbed a 14-year-old female student's breast and sent suggestive texts to a 16-year-old student on May 25. He's accused of groping the young student inside his classroom.

In text messages sent to the 16-year-old student, Hall allegedly told her "I want to be with you." The next day he apologized in another text message saying he was drunk, Katz said.

At the Queens high school, Hall is accused of telling the older student he was jealous of her and a male student, and later that day sent additional texts saying he wanted to smoke and have sex with her. He followed up those messages telling the 16-year-old she would be dead if she showed the texts to anyone, the district attorney said.

“This alleged behavior is completely unacceptable and will be fully investigated. This employee has been reassigned away from the school and students pending the outcome of the arrest and if convicted, we will pursue his termination," a Department of Education statement said.

Hall was arraigned Friday. If convicted, he faces up to a year in jail. Attorney information for the 31-year-old was not immediately known.

His arrest came just hours after a Connecticut teacher was arrested for allegedly sexually assaulting a teen student and sending inappropriate texts to others.

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