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P.S. 87 School Aide Gregory Atkins Indicted in Child Sex Abuse Case

By DNAinfo Staff on February 16, 2012 1:37pm

MANHATTAN CRIMINAL COURT — A school aide at a prominent Upper West Side public school charged with sexually abusing an 8-year-old student has been indicted in connection to the case, prosecutors said Thursday.

A grand jury has voted to indict Gregory Atkins, 56, although the exact charges will not be unsealed until his next court appearance on March 14.

Prosecutors said Atkins led a child into a bathroom stall at P.S. 87 William T. Sherman school four separate times on Feb. 2, where he forced the boy to undress while he touched the boy's body. He allegedly told the child he was looking for bruises.

Atkins was assigned a new attorney, Ralph Cherchian, during a brief Thursday hearing that Atkins did not attend.

Investigators in 2006 found Atkins had had an inappropriate relationship with a student at another school. He was given a verbal warning, but no written report of the investigation was placed in his file.

Two years later, he was hired at P.S. 87.