SHOCK TEACH BUST
Charged in student rape New dad’s trysts with 15-yr.-old
A BRONX high school teacher with a newborn baby was arrested early Wednesday for having sex with a 15-year-old student, cops said, the second instructor nabbed in the sexual abuse of a pupil in a week.
Brian Kearins, 33, a music teacher at Herbert H. Lehman High School, was busted after the victim’s sister found a string of emails and text messages between the pair that discussed their sexual relationship since last September, law enforcement sources said.
The sister showed the sexually explicit messages to their mother, who alerted school officials Monday, sources said. The school called police, who arrested the accused pervert a short time later.
Kearins, apparently feeling the heat from investigators before his arrest, also sent the girl, now 16, a note telling her to dump any racy messages she had saved on her phone and email account, sources said.
But the warning came too late as the NYPD’s special victims unit already had enough to arrest the married father of two boys, a 2-year-old and a 2-month-old.
Kearins was arraigned Wednesday night in Bronx Criminal Court on charges including rape, committing a criminal sex act and endangering the welfare of a child. Prosecutors said he told the alleged victim to keep their relationship a secret from her mother.
The teacher was ordered held in lieu of $15,000 bail and a judge granted an order of protection for the girl.
Kearins, who wore a black Bon Jovi Tshirt in court, is living on a prayer, according to his lawyer.
“He wants to fight this case,” said Legal Aid Society lawyer Rumzi Araj.
A source at the school was shocked at the allegations against Kearins, an avid musician who regularly posted pictures and videos online of himself playing guitar.
“He’s got a new baby,” said the source. “He’s a young guy; a nice guy. He’s a family guy. . . . He has a good rapport — he’s excellent with the kids.”
Students were just as horrified that their teacher — who volunteers with his wife, Jennifer, to raise money for the non-
profit Arthritis Foundation — was arrested for the revolting crimes.
“I’ve had him since freshman year for guitar and then chorus,” said Viviana Hernandez, 17, a junior. “It’s a little creepy being so close to him and then knowing that. I used to keep contact with him. We used to text each other. I’m really surprised. It’s sad.”
Sources said investigators were still trying to determine how often Kearins allegedly had sex with the teen, but all of the encounters seemed to have occurred at the E. Tremont Ave. school.
Officials with the city’s Department of Education said Kearins, an employee for nearly 10 years, has been reassigned away from students as they seek to fire him from his $69,720-a-year job.
No one answered when a reporter knocked on the door of his Yonkers home Wednesday. His wife darted from her vehicle into the house without commenting.
Kearins’ arrest came exactly a week after another Bronx teacher, Anthony Criscuolo, 40, was busted for raping a 10-year-old girl in his fifth-grade class multiple times in his car.
The arrests also come amid a stunning Daily News investigation that showed how difficult it is for the city to fire teachers accused of misconduct, including suspected sex offenders.
Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott has blasted the teachers union for protecting jobs of arrested teachers.
But Michael Mulgrew, president of the United Federation of Teachers, said Wednesday that the union supports the removal of predatory teachers — but only if found guilty by an independent arbitrator.
“I feel terrible,” said Tim Rankin, an English teacher at the school. “There have been a lot of these types of stories whether founded or unfounded. It makes me personally uncomfortable to have it so close.”
Rankin said bad news always overshadows any positive stories that involve city schools.
“It’s killing us,” he lamented. “We get accolades for all kinds of things, but this is the stuff that floats up to the top. ”