(SUFFOLK COUNTY, N.Y.) – Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond A. Tierney today announced that former Babylon High School teacher Timothy Harrison, 48, of Oak Beach, was sentenced to three years of probation after pleading guilty in September to Endangering the Welfare of a Child, for providing alcohol to and sexually abusing a 15-year-old student back in 2013.
“This defendant violated his trust as an educator, and sexually abused a child whom he was entrusted to care for,” said District Attorney Tierney. “This sentence will ensure that our children are safe, because Timothy Harrison will no longer be in a school classroom in New York State ever again, and it will protect the privacy rights of the victim, who will be spared from having to testify publicly in court.”
According to the investigation and the defendant’s admissions during his guilty plea allocution, between September and November 2013, Harrison sent the victim, who was 15 years old at the time, flirtatious text messages, gave her alcohol, and had sexual intercourse with her at his residence in Oak Beach. The victim came forward in 2021 and reported the sexual abuse to staff at Babylon High School and then to members of the Suffolk County Police Department’s Special Victim Section. Harrison was arrested on March 3, 2022.
On September 15, 2023, Harrison pleaded guilty before County Court Judge, the Honorable Karen M. Wilutis, to Endangering the Welfare of a Child, a Class A misdemeanor.
On November 27, 2023, Judge Wilutis sentenced Harrison to three years’ probation with sex offender conditions, including but not limited to housing restrictions, computer and electronic monitoring, and a mandate to not contact the victim. Additionally, as a condition of the plea, prosecutors required that Harrison surrender his teaching license. Harrison was represented by Kevin Keating, Esq.
This case was prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Melissa Grier of the Child Abuse and Domestic Violence Bureau, with investigative assistance from Detective Patrick Boyles of the Suffolk County Police Department’s Special Victims Section.
