HIV-Positive Teacher Charged With Having Sex With Student Posted: 11:50 a.m. EDT April 7, 2003
PATERSON, N.J. -- An HIV-positive teacher from a Roman Catholic elementary school is accused of sexually assaulting a former student over a two-month period, prosecutors said.
Raymond J. Welsh, 33, of Fair Lawn, was charged with sexual assault by a diseased person, aggravated sexual assault, sexual assault and child endangerment. He was released Friday on $200,000 bail.
Joseph Del Russo, chief assistant prosecutor for Passaic County, said state law requires anyone infected with HIV to notify sexual partners.
Welsh has taught religion, music, computers and gym at St. Therese School in Paterson since the late 1990s.
"Raymond has an excellent reputation in the community for being a decent and good person," Welsh's lawyer, Adolph J. Galluccio, said. Galluccio declined to comment further until after Welsh's initial court appearance, which was scheduled for Monday.
Prosecutors said Welsh's relationship with the boy, now 15, occurred during the summer of 2001. The boy had just graduated from the school, and the illicit acts allegedly took place in Welsh's car, apartment and the restaurant where he worked as a disc jockey.
Copyright 2003 by The Associated Press.
