Watch CBS News

Document Details Sex Abuse Allegations Against Ex-N.J. Prep School Teacher

BASKING RIDGE, N.J. (CBSNewYork) -- A former teacher at the center of a New Jersey prep school's investigation of possible sex abuse was convicted more than once of sexual conduct with minor boys, reports said Friday.

As WCBS 880's Kelly Waldron reported, Thad P. "Ted" Alton Jr., 69, is a former teacher at the Pingry School in Basking Ridge, New Jersey.

In 1980, he was convicted of three counts of lewdness, stemming from games of strip poker played with 12-year-old boys as well as mutual masturbation with the boys, according to a court documents.

Alton worked at Pingry or an earlier school that merged with it – called the Short Hills Country Day School – from 1972 through 1978, and went on to work for the Peck School in Morristown in 1978 and 1979, according to reports from NJ.com and Patch.

The court document said the 1980 convictions stemmed from incidents that happened when Alton was a teacher and assistant headmaster at Pingry, NJ.com reported.

Peter Janci, who represents four men who say they were abused as boys at Pingry, is not surprised.

"These predators organized their lives around injecting themselves into situations where they have ready access to boys," Janci said.

Janci said Alton had access to hundreds of boys over the course of his career as an educator and volunteer. He suspected there are at least a dozen more victims in the Pingry case alone.

The Pingry case resulted in charges of public lewdness and impairing the morals of a minor, NJ.com reported.

Alton later moved to upstate New York and was convicted in the sexual abuse of two boys in 1990, NJ.com and Patch reported. He served five years in prison in that case and remains on the sex offender registry for New York state.

View CBS News In
CBS News App Open
Chrome Safari Continue
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.