Teacher Arrested in Attack on 10-Year Old

Were There Other Victims?

Diaz Wants Complete Investigation

(Teacher Anthony Criscuolo is walked from the Bronx Special Victims squad on Simpson Avenue after his arrest.--Photo by David Greene)

By David Greene

BRONX, NEW YORK, JUNE 24- A New York City teacher has been charged in the sexual attack of a 10-year-old special education student from Fordham Heights.

Police sources say the investigation began shortly after the parents of the unidentified child found, "incriminating e-mails," the teacher sent the student-- and immediately called police.

The sources maintain that the teacher, Anthony Criscuolo, 40, a fifth-grade, special education teacher at P.S 386, located on E. 181 Street, gave the parents an official-looking letter about an awards ceremony held on June 17.

Investigators believe Criscuolo made up the story about the awards ceremony, so he could be alone with the young girl. The attack reportedly took place in the teacher's 2010 Dodge Charger outside of P.S. 195 on Ward Avenue during school hours.

Detectives arrested Criscuolo at his Van Nest home the following Wednesday and impounded his vehicle.

Criscuolo was charged with first degree rape, predatory sexual assault of a child and endangering the welfare of a child.

The Department of Education (DOE) quickly reassigned Criscuolo to a non-teaching position, while taking steps to begin the process to fire the tenured teacher. Criscuolo has been with the DOE since 2002 and currently makes $72,990 annually.

Standing with a relative of the child outside Bronx Supreme Court on June 24, Senator Ruben Diaz, Sr., stated, "I am calling for justice and for a thorough investigation of any other complaint against Anthony Criscuolo to be sure that no other children who trusted him as their teacher has also been harmed."

Criscuolo, who has also taught at P.S 498 in Van Nest and P.S. 178 in Baychester, remains jailed, unable to come up with the $750,000 bond to secure his release.

The NYPD reports Criscuolo has no prior criminal history and the DOE reports the teacher had no blemishes in his DOE file.