Not guilty: Judge rules on Marlboro, NJ teacher after molestation accusations

❗ Jenna Sciabica has been found not guilty of harassment, attorney says

❗ She lost her job after a student's mom publicly accused her

❗ Attorney says she now gets to go on the offensive

MARLBORO — A former special education teacher at Memorial Middle School has been found not guilty of harassment by a judge but her long fight is just beginning, according to her attorney.

Thursday's decision in Marlboro Municipal Court is a small relief for Jenna Sciabica, attorney Mitchel Ansell said to New Jersey 101.5.

Sciabica had been charged with harassment, which is a disorderly persons offense, or a low-level misdemeanor. A judge found her not guilty and her record will be expunged, Ansell said.

However, the charge followed a public accusation from parents in the district that she had molested their daughter. Ansell said the accusation was baseless and defamatory.

Marlboro teacher lost her job after accusation

Two parents went public with their accusations at a Board of Education meeting in April. They said the school board was partly responsible for the incident.

"You failed to establish mechanisms to prevent abuse, to prevent the atrocity that happened down that hallway to my 13-year-old daughter. You let this predator in our school. No denying. She's on video," the student's mom said.

They claimed Sciabica had molested their daughter in the school hallway on March 13 and that another teacher who saw the incident reported it. An investigation found the teacher touched a student over her clothing, police said in April.

Sciabica resigned in March "with regret" after the accusation. The resignation was made under "extreme duress," according to a countersuit. She was charged on April 19 with harassment.

Ansell said Sciabica had an "unblemished record" before the accusation. She was devastated to lose her career.

New Jersey 101.5 has reached out to the district for comment.

Conflicting accounts

While the mother said there was no denying that the teacher was a predator, a police officer said in municipal court that there was never anything sexual about this case, according to Ansell.

A countersuit filed in Superior Court in Monmouth County late last month said that Sciabica was frequently invited to the student's home. She had been tutoring the student's brothers at the house.

Sciabica became close friends with the student's mother and began to see the 13-year-old student as like a daughter or niece, the legal response said. With the mom's permission, she even gave the girl old clothes.

"There was absolutely and unequivocally nothing sexual about their relationship and it is wholly inaccurate and frankly, disgusting, to suggest otherwise," court documents said.

One week before the March 13 incident, Sciabica had been at the student's home to tutor the boys. While there, the student and her mother asked the teacher to look at her dress for an upcoming dance.

The student, identified as L.T., put on the dress and showed it to Sciabica while L.T.'s mom watched.

The mother commented that the dress was "too big in the chest" and had Sciabica adjust it, according to the countersuit. When the student said that was weird, the mom dismissed it.

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“Oh shut up [L.T.]. Who cares? They’re tits!" the mom said, according to the countersuit.

The countersuit said one week later, Sciabica saw L.T. in the hallway and asked, “what did mom decide. How are we getting these boobalas in the dress."

Sciabica recognized L.T. was wearing a shirt she had given the student and pulled it down so that it would fit better, the countersuit said.

That was the incident that another teacher saw — and that ended Sciabica's teaching career, the countersuit said.

Ansell said to New Jersey 101.5 on Thursday that it was now Ansell's turn to go on the offensive after losing her reputation.

"She has a long fight ahead of her," Ansell said.

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