Woman Accuses Long Island Teacher Of Grooming, Assault

WEST BABYLON, NY — The West Babylon School District has contacted legal counsel, after a graduate claims she was sexually assaulted and groomed by a teacher while she was a student — and that he is currently working in another district.

Toni Acerra, 21, of Lindenhurst, said in a public post on Instagram that her former Spanish teacher formed a relationship with her in 2016, when she was 14 years old, and later sexually assaulted her in 2019.

While she has not filed a complaint with the district, Dr. Yiendhy Farrelly, superintendent of schools, told Patch in a statement that they are looking into the matter.

"The district has been made aware of a social media post sharing allegations of an alleged inappropriate relationship between a former staff member and graduate of the district. The district takes these allegations very seriously," the statement said. "While no formal complaint has been filed with the district or administration, the district has contacted legal counsel and the New York State Education Department. The safety and well-being of all students is the district’s number one priority."

In a detailed six-slide post, Acerra said she met the teacher, who was then 24-years-old, when she was a student in his ninth-grade class.

"I couldn't go a second, a minute longer with him just leading a normal life," Acerra told Patch. "And the people in his personal life not knowing what he was capable of."

He was a "cool, hip" teacher who "everybody" loved, and she quickly became a "teacher's pet," she said.

"After a few months, it did not take a genius to see that our relationship was not strictly student-teacher," she wrote in the post.

Patch is refraining from using the teacher's name or his current school district, as there are no charges filed against him.

From Classroom To Outside Of School

The following year, Acerra and the teacher would spend time with each other outside of school, she said. They would talk about things unrelated to school — she helped him to prepare for his masters program — and about his long-term relationship.

The two also texted frequently. She felt she was being treated as "more than" a student, she said.

"I thought that I was so mature and so grown up," she told Patch.

At the end of her sophomore year, the teacher left West Babylon Senior High School and took a job at another district in Suffolk County.

The two continued to regularly speak and see each other, and he became a constant in her life, Acera said.

In February 2019, the teacher told Acerra how he and his long-term girlfriend had broken up. This drastically changed the tone of their conversations, she said.

"I was spoken to like a friend, not a former student," Acerra said. "I was asked for advice and comfort, and once again I was flattered to give it."

He started to become an even more constant in her life.

A musician, Acerra and the teacher performed at open mic nights together, she said.

He even befriended Acerra's parents, and helped her family move homes in August 2019.

"He actually helped my parents move furniture and stuff," she said. "He just established himself as a trustworthy figure."

Her parents were aware that their daughter and the teacher spent time outside of school together, but thought it was "strictly business."

"It's just vile," she said. "It's pretty dark that my parents were also manipulated by him."

Sexual Assault

In September 2019, the beginning of her senior year of high school, the teacher kissed her in his car, Acerra said.

"After this, our interactions escalated and started to become more and more sexual, over messages and in person," she wrote.

Acerra told Patch that once their relationship became romantic and sexual, the teacher insisted they move their conversations to the app Snapchat, which instantly deletes messages.

Therefore, she does not have evidence of their inappropriate relationship, she said.

"He, out loud and very black and white, would tell me that nobody could know about this," Acerra said. "It was, if you tell anybody about this I have to move out of the country. Mexico, to be exact."

On Oct. 14, 2019, Acerra claimed the teacher picked her up, drove her to his house, and had sex with her.

She was 17 and he was 27.

A few days later, the teacher texted her, saying that the romantic portion of their relationship needed to end. Weeks after, the teacher then said they needed to end their relationship completely, Acerra said.

"He took what he wanted and disposed of me," she said.

PTSD, Nightmares, Anxiety

Acerra told Patch the assault has had serious negative effects on her life.

For example, she struggled in telling her loved ones what happened. She only told two close friends — one who was also the teacher's student — six months after the alleged assault.

Since 2019, Acerra also has seen multiple psychiatrists. But she only felt comfortable to confess the assault after working one year with her current therapist, she said.

She expressed that she often felt anxious, worried she would bump into him, and had nightmares about the teacher. At one point, she contemplated taking her own life.

After discussing her symptoms, Acerra said her therapist diagnosed her with PTSD, or post-traumatic stress disorder, which develops in some people who have experienced a shocking, scary, or dangerous event.

Four years later, she said she while she still feels anxious, she has greatly benefited from therapy and no longer has suicidal thoughts.

It also took her two years to tell her mother.

The musician has since written and released a song that talks about the subject, and so her mother had already "figured it out" in a way.

Social Media Post

This June, Acerra had a panic attack after she encountered the teacher at a Starbucks. The last time she had seen him was the date of the alleged assault.

Without the teacher seeing her, Acerra recalls she ran at "full speed"out of the store. "I broke down in the parking lot, and freaked out as if I saw like a monster," Acerra said. "Imagine a 5 or 6-year-old girl seeing a vampire in real life — it was a similar reaction."

After her two friends who knew of the alleged incident comforted her, she said she went from having a "mortifying" feeling to "anger" toward herself.

"I couldn't believe that I was still allowing this man to make me feel that way," Acerra said.

On Oct. 14, the anniversary of the alleged assault, Acerra shared her story on Instagram.

"I took an important date for my own well-being so that every year on the date of the incident, it doesn't have to be that day anymore," she said. "It could be the day that I spoke up about it."

She told Patch she was inspired to go public after reading Brittany Rohl's public letter addressed to the Babylon School District in November 2021, claiming that a teacher groomed and sexually abused her for years.

Dozens of other Babylon alumni later spoke out, accusing multiple teachers of sexual and emotional abuse. One former teacher, Timothy Harrison, pleaded guilty in September to endangering a welfare of a child, after a former student accused him of rape. Attorney General Letitia James also launched an investigation into the district in November 2021.

"The first emotion I had (after reading the letter) I was sick to my stomach that this man could do these things," she said. "Then it started to feel like, 'Oh, I've seen this film before.'"

While she was aware that what the teacher did was wrong, it wasn't until reading Rohl's letter that she felt as though creating a public post was something she could do.

"I needed to take power back and the control of the narrative," she said. "It was all for me and not for him."

Community Response

Since publishing her own story, Acerra said a plethora of people have reached out to her in support, from friends, former students, to other teachers.

The teacher only worked at the school for two years, so he was not remembered much among other educators, she said.

She has not been in contact with the West Babylon School District or the teacher's current school district.

Now a music educator herself, she understands the boundaries between a teacher and students.
"I'm not super strict, but I'm also not trying to befriend my students," Acerra said. "There's a fine line between being, cool and relatable — and lax."

At this time, Acerra told Patch she does not plan to press charges.

The purpose of her post is to bring awareness to grooming, and to prevent this from happening to anyone else.

She encouraged current students, parents and families to "heighten your awareness" regarding signs grooming.

"It might feel flattering to be made to feel different and more mature than the other kids in your grade," Acerra said. "At the end of the day, it's not normal for an adult to tell you those things and make you feel that way."

Acerra also advocated for seminars, parent-teacher conferences, and assemblies to educate parents and guardians about grooming.

"I think it's a little bit of a general generational disconnect," she said. "It's a long game that a lot of people don't realize it's happening."