Police said a former teacher and coach at the prestigious Miss Porter’s School for girls in Farmington is accused of sexually assaulting one teenage student and might have had inappropriate conversations or shared text messages with at least five others, according to the arrest warrant application.
Joseph Prem Rajkumar, 42, who lived in a residence the school owned, was arrested on a warrant in March and charged with three counts of sex assault, according to a Farmington Police press arrest log.
Rajkumar was charged with two counts of second-degree sexual assault and one count of fourth degree sex assault.
The offense dates are listed as May 2010, December 2011 and February 2012 and all three charges state that the accused is a school employee and the other person is a "student enrolled in a school in which the actor works, or a school under the jurisdiction of the local or regional board of education which employs the actor."
Police began investigating on March 6, after a school guidance counselor contacted the Department of Children and Families and reported allegations of inappropriate conversations and texts between Rajkumar and at least five of his current students, between the ages of 15 and 18. DCF then contacted police.
Police said investigators received information that Rajkumar had sexual relations with one student during the 2011 to 2012 school year, the warrant states.
He admitted to police that he communicated with students through a gmail account and the e-mails were not appropriate, according to the warrant.
One of the victims described interactions with Rajkumar started as groping, then the conversations became sexual after she turned 16. The sexual intercourse started when she was 17 in the back closet of Rajkumar's classroom, and sometimes happened several times per week, the warrant states.
The victim told police that she waited to report Rajkumar because she was afraid that the high school would take away her diploma and she would have to leave college.
Rajkumar acknowledged a sexual relationship with the teen and agreed to submit a written statement, but only after going home and confessing to his wife, the warrant states.
Miss Porter’s is an elite and internationally acclaimed boarding and day school for girls with some high-profile alumnae, including Jackie Bouvier Kennedy Onassis and Gloria Vanderbilt.
A statement from Miss Porter's says Rajkumarwas a science teacher at the school from August 2009 through March 4, 2013.
A post on Miss Porter’s Web site from August 2009 welcoming new faculty stated that Rajkumar joined the school from Conserve School in Wisconsin, where he served as a physics/mathematics instructor for eight years. He was also a junior varsity soccer and track coach.
Rajkumar was held on $500,000 bond and appeared in court on April 9.
Police said they have not interviewed the additional potential victims.
Photo Credit: NBCConnecticut.com/Farmington Police