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Raymond Waters, 71, now of Pawlet, Vermont, was found guilty of five counts of aggravated sexual assault and 13 counts of sexual assault on Wednesday, June 28, according to Ocean County Prosecutor Bradley D. Billhimer.
The jury concluded beyond a reasonable doubt that between September 2002 and September 2004, Waters sexually assaulted a minor in Toms River Township, Barnegat Township, and Hillsborough Township (Somerset County), Billhimer said.
Waters was sent to the Ocean County Jail pending sentencing.
In January 2014, the victim responded to the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office to report that he had been sexually assaulted by Waters and Waters’ husband, Allen Harbatuk, 76, of Hillsborough, between September 2002 and September 2004. A subsequent investigation by the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office
Special Victims Unit and Toms River Township Police Department Detective Bureau revealed that the victim met Waters in 2002 when he was 14 years-old while Waters was his art teacher at Toms River High School North.
Further investigation revealed that Waters sexually assaulted the victim at Toms River High School North, the Joseph A. Citta Boy Scout Reservation in Barnegat Township, and Water’s then-residence in Hillsborough. Additionally, the investigation determined that Water’s husband, Harbatuk, sexually assaulted the victim at the Citta Boy Scout Reservation and the Hillsborough residence.
On Oct. 22, 2014, both Waters and Harbatuk were arrested at their residence in Hillsborough by Detectives from the Somerset County Prosecutor’s Office and Hillsborough Township Police Department.
They were transferred to the Ocean County Jail, and subsequently released on bail.
On June 21, 2018, Harbatuk was found guilty of Sexual Assault after a jury trial
On Nov. 2, 2018, Harbatuk was sentenced to seven years in New Jersey State Prison.
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