Middletown School Board - Tobacco and Capone.

Middletown school board — Middletown School Board - Tobacco and Capone.

MIDDLETOWN, N.J. — There will be no public flogging or release of confidential documents for a school teacher in Middletown who was arrested for having sex with a student. Instead, he was allowed to simply resign and walk away from the district.

A tenured Middletown High School North teacher and girls’ basketball coach charged with sexually assaulting a student was allowed to resign with full benefits and pension, despite no tenure charges or internal school investigation, public records revealed this week.

https://www.shorenewsnetwork.com/2025/03/06/middletown-teacher-who-had-sex-with-student-in-his-basement-released-from-jail/

Police said he had sex with a student in the basement of his home.

Justin McGhee, 35, of Ocean Township, was arrested last month and faces charges of second-degree sexual assault and second-degree endangering the welfare of a child, according to Monmouth County Prosecutor Raymond S. Santiago.

Board President Frank Capone did not release any statement regarding the decision. The district has repeatedly ignored requests from Shore News Network.

An investigation by the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office Special Victims Bureau and the Middletown Township Police Department determined that McGhee engaged in sexual acts with a student under the age of 18, beginning in late 2024. He was taken into custody Tuesday and transported to the Monmouth County Jail.

Despite the charges, the Middletown Board of Education did not pursue tenure charges or conduct an internal investigation. Instead, McGhee was permitted to resign.

With the district refusing to file tenure charges, McGhee will collect a pension based on his $83,332 annual salary. He will earn approximately $17,000 annually for the rest of his life.

According to the NJOIT Open Data Center, McGhee was hired on 1/1/2014 and worked for 11 years in the district prior to his arrest. His pension is active. In New Jersey, a teacher becomes tenured after 4 years.

An OPRA request to the Middletown School District has shown that only one teacher has faced tenure charges in the past decade, that teacher allegedly made phone calls and sent a couple of emails over a three-month period, according to the school’s claim.

That teacher claims the district is playing politics and acting under the influence of former Deputy Mayor Tony Fiore.

Update: this article previously stated McGhee, the teacher who had sex with a student in his basement retired with a ‘pension and full benefits’. Instead, will not receive a ‘full pension’, just the money he already put into his pension, according to district sources.

Authorities are urging anyone with additional information to contact MCPO Detective David Sidorakis at 800-533-7443 or Middletown Township Police Detective Ricardo Cruz at 732-615-2120.

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