QUEENS — A former Flushing public school teacher has pleaded guilty to the statutory rape of a 14-year-old girl at his apartment in Forest Hills, Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said Monday.
Daniel Reilly, 36, who lives on Yellowstone Boulevard, taught sixth grade English at I.S. 237 in Flushing.
The Queens DA's office said that the former teacher had been having sex with the girl since she was 13-years-old, starting in August 2012.
On Monday, he pleaded guilty to second-degree rape, Brown said.
But as part of the deal, Brown said that Reilly admitted to engaging in sexual intercourse with his former student, now 14, in April 2013.
Brown said the case came to light when the victim’s sister saw sexually explicit text messages on her phone. Members of the victim’s family went to the school and met with school authorities, who notified investigators.
“The defendant has admitted to sexually taking advantage of one of his former students — a fourteen-year-old girl,” Brown said. “As a teacher and an adult, the defendant was in a position of power to know better. Children should be able to remain children.”
Reilly is scheduled to be sentenced on July 22 to six months in jail and ten years’ probation.
He will also be required to surrender his teaching license and register on the State’s sex offenders registry, Brown said.
