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EASTCHESTER, N.Y. An Eastchester resident teaching in the Bronx was jailed for extradition to New Jersey after being accused of engaging in sexual conduct with an underage female relative.
Eastchester police arrested Thomas P. Gibbons, 58, on Wednesday, May 30, after a New Jersey detective alerted them that there was a warrant out for his arrest. The warrant, dated May 30, charges Gibbons with engaging in sexual conduct with a child less than 13 years old, according to the police report.
Police Officer Jorge G. Lage and Sgt. Richard R. Flood served the warrant at Gibbons residence, where he was arrested. Gibbons, who teaches at John F. Kennedy High School in the Bronx, was arraigned by Eastchester Town Justice Janet Calano and ordered held at the Westchester County jail until he was extradicted to New Jersey on Friday.
The criminal complaint alleges that sexual conduct occurred with a 9-year-old female relative in Paterson, N.J., between January 2010 and January 2011. Gibbons is charged under New Jersey law with one count of endangering the welfare of a child under 16, a third-degree crime punishable by three to five years in state prison.
His arrest comes just a day after Eastchester Schools Superintendent Marilyn C. Terranova joined New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg at a news conference proposing legislation to better protect students from sexual misconduct.
The new legislation, if approved by the state Legislature, would allow school districts and in New York City, the schools chancellor to have the final say on both the case and disciplinary action taken. Hearing officers would submit their decisions to the school district for review, but the district would make the final decision.
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