A daycare teacher has been charged for allegedly sexually abusing several young students at the Bushwick child care center where he worked.
Devante Brown, 30, was arrested Tuesday by the NYPD’s Brooklyn Child Abuse Squad, police said.
According to the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office, Brown, who taught at The Learning Factory on Evergreen Avenue, was accused of abusing four young girls — ages 5, 6 and 9 — multiple times over the course of about a year and a half.
The defendant allegedly touched the victims’ “intimate body parts” both under and over their clothing while they were inside the childcare center. On at least one occasion, the DA said, he abused a child while they were at Brooklyn Bridge Park.
Brown also allegedly threatened at least one child in an effort to keep her from reporting the abuse, and said her favorite teacher would be fired if she told an adult.
Last summer, the children told their parents about the incidents, and their parents contacted law enforcement, per the DA’s office. According to News12, at least two people raised concern’s about Brown’s behavior with the center’s owners, but were brushed off.
Brown was charged in Brooklyn Supreme Court on Wednesday with multiple counts of first-and-second-degree sexual abuse, forcible touching and endangering the welfare of a child. He was ordered to be held on bail, and will appear in court again on March 27. His top charge, first degree sexual abuse, carries a maximum prison sentence of seven years.
“The conduct alleged in this case shocks the conscious,” said Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez. “Innocent children were entrusted to a teacher’s care to safely learn and grow, but instead this defendant allegedly shuttered that trust in the worst way. We can never tolerate the disturbing exploitation and abuse of children alleged in this case and will continue to aggressively prosecute this and any other case in which someone abuses their position of authority to harm a child.”
