Ex-coach
agrees to forfeit teaching license
Saturday, May 28, 2005 • By TOM
QUIGLEY • The Express-Times
BELVIDERE -- A former Warren Hills
Regional High School wrestling coach charged with supplying
alcohol to minors was admitted to a probationary program on
Friday.
Jon Lesher, 28, of the 300 block of
Belvidere Avenue, Washington, must forfeit his teaching
license as a condition of his admission into the state's
pretrial intervention program.
The condition applies to every state in
the nation.
Other conditions include his agreement to
never teach in any public or private school, never take a
job involving the supervision of children, have no contact
with his alleged victims, and undergo a mental health
evaluation.
Lesher is also precluded from
participating in any volunteer activities involving minors
during the course of the 36-month pretrial program,
according to the agreement reached with Warren County
Assistant Prosecutor Kelly Shelton.
The program enables selected defendants
to have the charges against them dismissed if they
successfully complete it.
Lesher is also charged with sending
sexually explicit text messages to a student's cell phone.
The former history teacher allegedly provided alcohol to
four teenage girls.
In October, Lesher resigned as wrestling
coach and was suspended from his teaching position with pay.
He later resigned.
The charges against him arose after a
joint investigation by the Warren County Prosecutor's Office
and the Washington Township Police Department.
Lesher is charged with two fourth-degree
crimes for allegedly sending the text messages to one
student and providing alcohol to another. He faces five
disorderly persons charges linked to allegedly providing
alcohol to the Warren Hills student and three former
students.
The fourth-degree charges each carry a
maximum 18-month state prison sentence.
The Lesher investigation also led to the
arrest of a former Warren Hills teacher who allegedly
supplied $200 worth of alcoholic beverages for a student's
prom party last year.
John Kurdilla, 26, left the district last
year to work for the South Amboy Elementary
School.
Kurdilla is charged with three counts of
child abuse for allegedly supplying alcohol to three
students. He is also charged with offering alcoholic
beverages to the three minor students and four other high
school students who were then under 21.
Kurdilla was a physical education teacher
at Warren Hills.
Reporter Tom Quigley can be reached at 908-475-8184 or by
e-mail at tquigley@express-times.com.
© 2005 The Express-Times. Used with
permission.
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