Bx. teach recants kid rape

Says mom set him up

A Bronx teacher who pleaded guilty to raping his 10-year-old student in 2014 is now recanting his confession, claiming the victim’s mom fabricated the allegations because he ended an affair.

Anthony Criscuolo, 43, now insists he never touched the girl, even though his DNA was found in her underwear and cops retrieved damning e-mails to the child.

He has filed a motion in Bronx Supreme Court to overturn his conviction and is asking for a hearing to prove his innocence.

A spokesman for the Bronx District Attorney’s Office declined to comment. The victim and her mother’s names are being withheld by The Post because the girl is a minor and a sexual-assault victim.

“His allegations are totally false and without a scintilla of merit,” said the mother’s attorney, Mitchel Herstic. The mom is suing the city over the incident.

Criscuolo (inset) says he slept with the PS 386 student’s mom twice in 2014 but rebuffed her push for a serious relationship just three days before the alleged sexual assault on June 17.

“Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned,” Criscuolo says in court papers.

The disgraced teacher goes so far as to claim the rape was a setup, saying the child’s mother planted his DNA in her own daughter’s underwear and hacked into his e-mail to send messages about the attack.

“I was too rough. Sorry. It’s normal,” an e-mail to the youngster says.

Criscuolo, who is serving a 14-year sentence, says in court papers that he pleaded guilty to get out of a local jail where he was a pariah, subjected to beatings by prisoners and guards alike.

“I truly believe him,” said attorney Steven Metcalf II, who has taken on Criscuolo’s long-shot case.

Metcalf pointed out that a semen stain was found on the girl’s underwear even though the mother said they had been washed. He also says DNA found in the back of his client’s Dodge Charger, where the alleged rape took place, was never tested.

Finally Metcalf says he has phone records between Criscuolo and the girl’s mom that prove the affair.

The DA is reviewing the evidence, Metcalf ’s filings state.