Grand Jury Doesn't Indict Queens Teacher's Aide Accused of Groping Kids

Brett Picou, a DOE employee, was charged with misdemeanor sexual abuse on Feb. 23, 2012.

Getty Images/ Stephen Chernin

QUEENS — A grand jury declined to indict a Queens teacher’s aide on Monday on charges he sexually abused six students at a Springfield Gardens school.

Brett Picou, 30, who worked at P.S. 52, was arrested in February and accused of hugging and groping girls aged between 9 and 10 years in 2011 and 2012, reports said.  

Authorities said Picou had allegedly slapped a girl’s backside and held another girl’s buttocks as she walked up the stairs, according to published reports.

The Far Rockway resident was charged with several counts of first-degree sexual abuse, forcible touching and endangering the welfare of a child, authorities said.

His lawyer Virginia LoPreto told The Daily News that he was hoping to “get back his reputation and certainly his livelihood” after the grand jury's decision.

"The matter is under review by the DOE, and he remains suspended without pay,” said spokeswoman Marge Feinberg.