Teacher Accused Of Sexually Abusing Girls During Class

A 38-year-old Queens public school teacher has been charged with sexually abusing five of his female students—ranging in age from eight and ten—over the course of the last three years. Simon A. Watts, 38, of 114-44 197th Street in St. Albans. Watts, molested the girls while working as a fourth-grade teacher at P.S. 15 (Jackie Robinson School), in Springfield Gardens, DA Richard Brown alleges [pdf]. Watts was arraigned yesterday on charges of second-degree course of sexual conduct against a child, first-degree sexual abuse, and endangering the welfare of a child. The details are, obviously, revolting.

Two of the girls were allegedly abused repeatedly as Watts was moved with them from the third grade to the fourth grade last September. Investigators say he molested the children at his desk while fellow students sat in the classroom, instructing them not to tell anybody. The abuse was allegedly accompanied by such sick comments as "I love you," and "I can see your butt." Watts's wife, speaking to a Daily News reporter outside their home last night, said, "I don't want to speak about it. It's upsetting."

Parents are outraged in part because the school became aware of the allegations about a week ago, but only informed parents in a letter sent yesterday. "Three paragraphs. That's it. It's not enough for me," one parent told ABC. "We, as parents, worry about someone attacking out kids outside of school. Now we have to worry about inside too. That's not right. That's not right at all," parent Darlene Williams said. Other parents say they don't believe it, and some of the students said Watts "was an excellent teacher who took a lot of care and attention to the students, even taking them bowling."

Watts faces up to seven years in prison if convicted, and was ordered held on $200,000 bail. And he was the second Queens teacher arrested this week; special education teacher Christine Williams, 41, was charged with raping a 15-year-old boy, who gave authorities video of their encounters in the home she shared with her two kids, a source tells the News. The teen is reportedly a family friend of Williams's.

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By John Del Signore in News on April 22, 2010 10:23 AM

Comments [rss]

Britthney

oh damn farleft i'm sorry i was so pissed at other people that i thought you were attacking me. please forgive me and thank you.

Britthney

farleft honey it's you're because i am saying you are not the possesive.

triumph110

This is happening all over the country. Go to www.schoolteachernews.com and click on the Scandal page. This year they have documented over 175 of these types of incidents. They also have a map of where the incidents have taken place. In 2009 they found 464 of these kinds of cases.

Britthney

omg he taught at my elementary school. My dad and I heard his name last night and were like whoa wtf don't tell me its the same mr. watts....he was mad kewl but then i had heard he got transfered cuz some girl accused him of botherin her (didn't get the whole story cuz i had graduated by then but that makes sense) smh dude you are so screwed. and i thought he was nice. do you know how many kids loved him he took advantage of tht.

chuzzlewit

umm..what did he teach?

Britthney

and btw my grammar is correct it's only the spelling that's wrong maybe you just can't read because trust me i speak waaaaaay better english than many people my age. you know proper english not "american" so don't even try to come at me.

Stevennnn

You're grammar doesn't have to be perfect, but use English.

What is cuz? botherin? kewl?

farleft

It's Your, not You're.

Britthney

fifth grade at the time if my memory is correct (i'm going back to like '01 so forgive me). and jamie i choose not to write correctly online ok. if you're so picky about other people's writing style maybe you don't belong on the internet. what are you? 60? breathe. damn.

Jamie McDonald

Not grammar and composition, apparently.

Kojak

Well he's fucked. He'll be marked as a Level 10 Sex offender whenever he gets out of jail and won't be able to live anywhere near a school, playground, or pretty much anything in fact.

Dude, go after 18+! is 7 years that much of a gap??

lor

kojak,at his age 18 is still child abuse,all you old men need to go for women your own age. LEAVE US ALONE !!!!!

eyekantspel

good riddance. Hopefully this also means he will lose any pension he might otherwise be entitled to.

Valencia

I went to PS 15 back in the days and stuff like this wasn't going on it's a shame what the world has come to. I hope he gets what he deserves.