Former Queens Teacher Charged After Years-Long Sexual Abuse of Student

A former New York City teacher was found to have repeatedly raped a teenage student between 2014 and 2015 and faced felony charges after a Special Commissioner investigation.

According to a report from the city’s Special Commissioner of Investigation, former teacher Lennard Persaud engaged in repeated non-consensual sexual acts with a female student at John Adams High School in Queens during 2014 and 2015. The assaults included forcing the teen into his car in an alley and later raping her in a casino parking lot while she pleaded for it to stop. Over a two-year span, Persaud also sent a series of vile text messages to the victim.

The investigation began in April 2023 after a whistleblower informed authorities, leading to felony third-degree rape, criminal sex act, misdemeanor child endangerment, and sexual abuse charges filed in June 2023. Persaud, who had been teaching since 1998 and earned $140,794 in 2024, was reassigned during the probe and later entered a guilty plea to disorderly conduct, with the Queens District Attorney’s Office declining to explain the lenient deal. A Department of Education spokesperson called the conduct a profound betrayal of the trust placed in educators and stressed the priority of student safety.