JAMAICA — A Springfield Gardens man was convicted of the 2008 sexual abuse of a 13-year-old female student in a back stairwell at a Jamaica middle school not used by students or staff, the Queens district attorney said.
Lamonte Walton, 26, a former school safety agent at MS 72 at 133-25 Guy R. Brewer Blvd., was convicted Friday of a second-degree criminal sexual act and endangering the welfare of a child following a jury trial before Queens Supreme Court Justice Barry Kron.
Kron scheduled sentencing for the defendant, who faces up to seven years in prison, for April 30.
“That which occurred is very disturbing,” Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said in a statement. “A school should always be a safe place for a student, free of sexual predators — especially those whose job it is to protect students. This case calls for a prison sentence to both punish the defendant and to serve as a warning to those who would prey on schoolchildren.”
The abuse came to light when the victim revealed the abuse to health officials. The defendant was immediately removed from the school and suspended after his arrest and subsequently fired, the DA said.
