By Dustin Brown
A former Newtown High School teacher was arrested last Thursday for allegedly having sex with a 16-year-old student in his classroom closet and in his car, Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said.
In a separate case, a home contractor from Astoria was arrested two days earlier on attempted rape charges after arranging a sexual rendezvous with an officer posing as a 13-year-old girl he had met online, Brown said.
Josner Buena, 31, of 35-06 73rd St. in Jackson Heights, is accused of French kissing a 16-year-old female student twice in December, then having oral sex with her in his locked classroom closet, the DA said. He allegedly brought her to Forest Park at Woodhaven Boulevard the evening of March 22, where he fondled her and they had sex in his car, Brown said.
He is charged with rape, sodomy, sex abuse and endangering the welfare of a child, Brown said. He faces up to four years in prison if convicted.
“The defendant is alleged to have exploited a teacher-student classroom friendship, seduced an impressionable female high school student and engaged in an unlawful sexual relationship that gratified his ego and betrayed his trust,” Brown said in a statement.
He was arrested last Thursday at Fort Sill, Okla. and arraigned that evening before Queens County Criminal Court Judge Fernando Camacho, who set bail at $5,000.
Buena had been a social studies teacher at Newtown High School, at 48-01 90th St. in Elmhurst, from 1996 until this year, when he left to accept an active duty assignment with the U.S. Army’s Judge Advocate General Corps.
Board of Education spokesman Kevin Ortiz said the status of Buena’s employment is unclear because it is uncertain whether he resigned or went on leave for his military service.
“If he’s still employed by the Board of Ed, he’ll be reassigned where he won’t come in contact with any kids pending the outcome of the investigation,” Ortiz said.
An arrest was made in another child sex case when a detective posing as a 13-year-old girl on the Internet arranged a meeting to have sex with Gregory Carlson, a 34-year-old home contractor from Astoria who installs windows and doors, the DA said.
He is charged with attempted rape, attempted sodomy and attempting to disseminate indecent materials to minors, Brown said. He faces four years in prison if convicted.
Carlson, of 28-15 47th St., met an undercover police officer he believed to be a 13-year-old girl next to the park statue at 54th Street and Woodside Avenue on May 14, then walked with her to an apartment building where he allegedly planned to have sex with her, according to the complaint filed by the DA’s office.
But he was arrested as they entered the vestibule, where police found he had three condoms and a digital camera, which he had brought to take “naughty pictures,” the DA alleged.
Carlson had arranged the date after meeting “Jessie” earlier this year in an America Online chat room, the DA said. The complaint alleges he had Instant Message conversations in which he described detailed sexual acts with her, and e-mailed her sexually explicit photographs of himself.
After learning the girl was 13 years old, he allegedly told her that her age “kind of turns me on a little.”
He was arraigned May 15 in Queens Criminal Court before Camacho, who set bail at $50,000, the DA said.
Reach reporter Dustin Brown by e-mail at Timesledger@aol.com or call 229-0300, Ext. 154.
