NJ teacher gets prison for 2-year sex relationship with student

HADDON — A 31-year-old township resident and former Latin teacher was sentenced Friday to five years in prison after admitting having an inappropriate sexual relationship with one of his students at Cherokee High School.

Brantley Cesanek pleaded guilty in September to second-degree child endangerment. He initially had also been charged with sexual assault.

Evesham police were notified in October 2018 about Cesanek's inappropriate behavior. He was arrested a day later and immediately suspended and eventually fired from his job in the Lenape Regional High School District.

Investigators said Cesanek engaged in a two-year sexual relationship with the girl starting in 2016. The sexual contact occurred at his home and "improper conduct" with the student also occurred at the school, prosecutors said.

The student told investigators that she had vaginal and oral sex with the teacher while she was a junior and senior.

“We all suffer from the erosion of that trust when a teacher crosses the line and has an improper – and illegal – relationship with a student," Burlington County Prosecutor Scott Coffina said Friday after the sentencing. "This case serves as an example that conduct such as that engaged in by this defendant will never be tolerated and will be met by significant consequences.”