14ยฐ
Kurt Zimmerman, a 55-year-old married father of two, was working in the Morris Hills Regional District in Rockaway when he โengaged in sexual conduct with a juvenile student who was at least 16 years of age but under the age of 18,โ Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella said on Thursday, March 14.
Zimmerman, currently of Rockaway, had worked in the district as a teacher and band director between September 1991 and June 2010, according to his LinkedIn profile.
Court records put the date of the alleged assault at June 2, 2003.
Zimmerman most recently spent more than a decade at Hopatcong High School, first as a band director and then as coordinator of student discipline, it says.
Detectives from Musellaโs office initially arrested Zimmerman this past Feb. 23.
They charged him with engaging in sexual conduct with a student who was between 13-17 years old both at Westwood Regional Middle School in Westwood and at Westwood Regional High School in Washington Township.
Zimmerman was the director of middle school bands in Westwood from September 2010 to February 2013, according to his LinkedIn profile.
Prosecutorโs detectives accused him of three separate instances of touching either himself or another through force or coercion, based on the New Jersey statutes under which Zimmerman was charged, records show. He was also charged with child endangerment.
A Superior Court judge released Zimmerman on March 4 under New Jerseyโs bail reform law.
He was back behind bars, charged with three counts of sexual assault on a student, following his arrest in Rockaway on Tuesday, March 13.
Musellaโs detectives are continuing their investigation. He urged anyone with relevant information to contact his office's anonymous Tips Line: (๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ญ) ๐ฎ๐ฎ๐ฒ-๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ฏ๐ฎ.
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