NJ Teacher Guilty of Sex with Girl - Updated

(New Brunswick, New Jersey) Twenty-seven-year-old teacher and swim coach Sarah E. Blessing pleaded guilty earlier today to criminal sexual contact with an underage female and witness tampering in accordance with an agreement with the prosecution.

Under the plea agreement, the state agreed to recommend a sentence of 364 days at the Middlesex County Adult Correction Center in North Brunswick as a condition of 5 years probation.

Blessing will not be allowed to have any contact the victim or unsupervised contact with females under the age of 18 and comply with mental health counseling.

Blessing has also agreed to forfeit her teaching certificate and any ability to hold public office in the future.

Sentencing is scheduled for September 30.

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NJ Teacher Indicted for Sex with Female Student
[Previous 3/5/10 post]
(Middlesex County, New Jersey) Suspended fifth-grade teacher Sarah E. Blessing, 27, has been indicted on charges of sexual assault, criminal sexual contact, endangering the welfare of a child and witness tampering.

She remains free on $150,000 bond.

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NJ Teacher Arrested for Sex with Female Student
[Previous 12/3/09 post]
(Edison, New Jersey) A 27-year-old fifth-grade teacher and girls swim coach at Bishop George Ahr High School, Sarah E. Blessing, was arrested Tuesday (12/1) for allegedly engaging in sex with a 17-year-old female student.

Blessing has been charged with criminal sexual contact and endangering the welfare of a child.

Investigator Raj Chopra at the Middlesex County Prosecutor's Office and Edison detectives Michael Michalski and Tim Farrell determined that Blessing began having sex with the student in June of this year, said Jim O'Neill, spokesman for the Middlesex County Prosecutor's Office.

The investigation started Tuesday, when the Diocese of Metuchen called law-enforcement authorities after discovering the relationship, O'Neill said.

Authorities said the teen-ager was a student at Bishop Ahr the time of the alleged assaults, but declined to release more details to protect the identity of the victim.

Blessing was booked into custody at the Middlesex County Adult Correction Center with bail set at $150,000.