ST. ALBANS — A former Queens public school teacher convicted this June of sexually abusing five of his students received a 35-year prison sentence Wednesday, Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said.
Simon A. Watts, 42, of 114-44 197th St. in St. Albans, was convicted of three counts of second-degree course of sexual conduct against a child, two counts of first-degree sexual abuse, one count of forcible touching and five counts of endangering the welfare of a child.
Watts worked at PS 15 in Springfield Gardens where he was a third- and fourth-grade teacher to the five students, four female and one male, who he sexually abused — sometimes on multiple occasions — between Sept. 1, 2007, and March 9, 2010, Brown said.
According to trial testimony, on March 9, 2010, Watts was sitting at his desk reviewing a 9-year-old student’s work when he took her hand and placed it on his penis over his clothing. The child reported the incident to her mother that night and Watts was removed from school and suspended the next day, Brown said.
About a month after his arrest, the other four students came forward and said Watts had touched them in a sexual manner or made them touch him, Brown said.
