The Franklin Reporter & Advocate Eight Villages, One Community
Photo: Somerset County Prosecutor’s Office.
Updated: On May 8, Fennes pleaded not guilty to the charges in state superior Court, Somerville. Fennes remains in custody in the Somerset County Jail, Somerville, in lieu of $100,000 bail.
Original Story: A former 1st Grade teacher at Cedar Hill Preparatory School on Cedar Grove Lane faces charges that he sexually assaulted one of his former students.
Jason Fennes, 40, of Cranford, was arrested Feb. 19 on charges of 1st Degree Aggravated Sexual Assault and 2nd Degree Endangering the Welfare of a Child, according to a press release from the Somerset County Prosecutor’s Office.
According to the release, a 10-year-old girl told authorities that Fennes assaulted her when she was enrolled in the school during 2010 and 2011.
There was no indication in the release as to why the girl waited several years to make the complaint.
Fennes remains incarcerated at the Somerset County Jail, Somerville, on $100,000 bail.
Fennes, a former standout track star at Monmouth University in West Long Branch in the 1990s, faces similar charges in other towns.
In March 2012, Fennes was charged with molesting two 1st Graders at William Mason Elementary School in Montville during the 2005-06 and 2006-07 school years, according to published reports.
In June of that year, Fennes was charged with molesting two more 1st Graders at the school, and of assaulting a girl between the ages of 14 and 16 years while he was the assistant track coach at Butler High School, starting in 1997, according to published reports.
Fennes was discharged from Cedar Hill Prep in February of 2012, during the time authorities were investigating the Morris County charges, according to published reports. He had worked there since 2010.
In October, 2014, the state Department of Education’s Board of Examiners suspended Fennes’ elementary school teaching certificates, in light of the charges against him. According to board documents, Fennes offered no defense in the case.
Authorities ask that anyone who may have information about Fennes call to the Somerset County Prosecutor’s Office Sex Crimes/Child Unit at (908) 575-3300.
