Retired Summit Middle School Teacher Facing Multiple Charges

Charlie Dwyer

SUMMIT, NJ – A former Summit Middle School drama and theater teacher, Ronald E. Wells has been indicted on multiple serious charges against former male students between 2003 and 2017.

According to the Union County Prosecutor’s Office, a joint investigation by the Summit Police Department and the agency’s Special Victims Unit began when in June of 2021, when a former student reported to the Summit Police that Wells had assaulted him in 2016 in a private area of the Lawton C. Johnson Summit Middle School.

Wells was charged for that assault, but during the course of an investigation, several other victims, also former students, came forward to the Summit Police Department alleging acts by Wells dating back as far as 2003.  

“Last Thursday, a Union County Grand Jury returned a thirteen count indictment against a retired drama teacher and theater director at a middle school in Summit,” Union County Prosecutor William A. Daniel and Acting Summit Police Chief Steven Zagorski jointly announced Wednesday.


Wells, 70 was charged with one count of first-degree aggravated sexual assault, two counts of second-degree sexual assault, four counts of third-degree aggravated criminal sexual contact, and six counts of third-degree endangering the welfare of a child in connection with a series of sexual offenses he committed against sixmale students between 2003 and 2017.  All of the victims were between the ages of 12 and 14 during their assaults.

Wells is currently on pre-trial release pending his post-indictment arraignment before Union County Superior Court Judge Robert A. Kirsch on Monday, April 18, the UCPO said in a statement.

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