78°
Investigators began looking into Derick Jerinsky, 27, who is single, after one girl contacted police, Bergen County Prosecutor John L. Molinelli said. By the time they were through, they had identified a half-dozen students with whom he had “inappropriate sexual conversations, both personally and through electronic means with the students, displaying inappropriate images to the students and having direct inappropriate sexual contact with one female student,” the prosecutor said.
The prosecutor’s computer crimes unit amassed the electronic communications, which apparently had continued right up until before his arrest yesterday.
Jerinsky “is not directly employed by Ramsey High School and his position with the High School Band is strictly voluntary,” Molinelli said. However, he does teach music full-time at Paterson Eastside, the prosecutor said.
Jerinsky, who is being held on $125,000 cash bail at the Bergen County Jail, is charged with aggravated sexual contact, as well as various counts of child endangerment. He also had to surrender his passport.
Molinelli credited his office’s Sex Crimes and Child Abuse Unit, under the direction of Chief Steven Cucciniello, and the Ramsey Police Department, under the direction of Chief Bryan Gurney, as well as Suffern police and the NYPD.
The prosecutor asked that if anyone has any further information about Jerinsky to contact either the Ramsey Police Department: (201) 327-2400, or the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office Sex Crimes and Child Abuse Unit: (201) 226-5620.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Although every defendant is legally innocent until found guilty, this, again, is why we preach vigilance to parents. KNOW what your kids are up to, even when they’re in the house. The Internet unlocks doors to your home for ANYONE to come in. And teens often aren’t old enough to understand the potential consequences.
Click here to follow Daily Voice South Passaic and receive free news updates.
