Music school teacher arrested

The owner of the Allegro Vivace Music School in Auburndale, whose employee has been arraigned on felony sex crimes involving an 11-year-old male student, said the incident has “taken us all by surprise.”
“We are very shaken by what has happened - we take pride in being a family-friendly environment,” he went on.
The employee, identified by the district attorney as Amos Duque, 24, had been teaching classical guitar and piano at the school for about a year, according to the owner, who noted that Duque had no prior record.
Duque, of Flushing - who also taught at the Manhattan Harbor Conservatory - was arraigned on Sunday, January 4 in Queens Criminal Court on a 12-count complaint, charging him with five counts of promoting a sexual performance by a child, five counts of possessing a sexual performance of a child, one count of sexual abuse in the second degree and one count of endangering the welfare of a child.
Duque, who faces up to seven years in prison if convicted, was ordered held on $25,000 bail and to return to court on January 20. A legal aid attorney representing him did not return phone calls as of press time.
According to District Attorney Richard A. Brown, while at the Allegro Vivace Music School, which is located in the basement of a church in Auburndale, on Saturday, December 20, Duque gave his cell phone to an 11-year-old male student and persuaded him - allegedly by offering him money - to go into the bathroom and take pictures and make a video of his penis and then later, allegedly to allow him to see and touch his penis. The defendant is alleged to have also referred the boy to pornographic web sites on the Internet.
The alleged abuse case came to light when the victim revealed what had happened to a close family friend.
“The charges, if true, are very disturbing,” said Brown. “A school - whether it be a student’s primary one or an after-school study program - should always be a safe place for a student, free of sexual predators. The consequences of the defendant’s alleged actions for the victim are profound and can well result in emotional trauma from which he may never recover.”
Brown said that anyone with additional information or who believes that he or she may have been a victim is encouraged to contact the District Attorney’s Special Victims Bureau at 718-286-6505.
In the meantime, Allegro Vivace is open for business and the owner is “cooperating fully with police.” Additionally, he said, he is “contacting all parents I think should be informed [to] assure them this was an isolated case.”