FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT www.queenscourier.com APRIL 11, 2013 • THE QUEENS COURIER 3 OUTRAGE OVER TEACHER’S ALLEGED SEX ROMP WITH STUDENT BY MELISSA CHAN [email protected] The Queens middle school teacher charged with statutory rape was a popular, fun educator who shared details about his personal life with his class, students said. “He was actually a really cool teacher,” said a former student. “He was funny. He joked around with us a lot.” Daniel Reilly, a sixth grade English teacher at I.S. 237, is accused of having sex multiple times since last November with a 14-yearold girl he used to teach, authorities said. The 36-year-old married father from Forest Hills was charged with rape, endangering the welfare of a child and sexual abuse at his arraignment on Tuesday, April 9, according to the district attorney. “This case is particularly disturbing,” said District Attorney Richard A. Brown. “Schools should be safe havens for children. Instead, this defendant is accused of sexually preying upon one of his former students and rendezvousing with her at his residence.” A criminal complaint details several incidents in which Reilly and the victim lay naked in bed together and engaged in sexual activities in his home. The relationship, which allegedly continued for more than nine months, surfaced when the victim’s sister found sexually explicit text messages on her phone, Brown said. Reilly was arrested on April 8 at 8 p.m. in Forest Hills, police said. The educator, who makes close to $62,000 a year, has taught at the Flushing school for six years, a spokesperson for the city’s Department of Education said. He was immediately reassigned out of the school, and there were no prior investigations. Reilly posted bail for $30,000, according to the district attorney. The educator is ordered to return to court on May 6. If convicted, he faces up to seven years in prison. Students said Reilly was open with his personal life, telling his class how “goofy” he was in high school as well as his time in the U.S. Navy. Reilly is also a new father, according to teens who knew him, and welcomed a baby daughter to the world last year. “That’s pretty unacceptable,” said Mike Chen, whose 14-year-old son attends the school. “Something like that is every parent’s nightmare.” ticularly chil- PHOTO COURTESY THE NEW YORK DAILY NEWS Queens Courier takes top honors at NY Press BY TONIA N. CIMINO The Queens Courier is breaking news – and breaking barriers. Not only are we the fi rst-place winners of the New York Press Association’s (NYPA) Past Presidents’ Award for General Excellence two years in a row, but our staff of talented writers and artists walked away with numerous other accolades. Last year, Melissa Chan set the bar by winning third place Rookie Reporter of the Year. This year, her peers Maggie Hayes and Terence Cullen were also given the distinctive honor, beating out slews of writers state-wide. Maggie, who covers all of southeast and southwest Queens, and is the editor of our North Shore Towers Courier, was awarded third place for her “excellent portfolio of stories.” Of her work, the judges said, “Maggie covered each subject with skill and professionalism, using sources to tell the story . . . with a writing style that really works.” Terence, who covers south Queens and is editor of our Queensborough magazine, blew away the NYPA staff by not only winning fi rst place Rookie of the Year, but also fi rst place Sports Writer of the Year. NYPA Executive Director Michelle Rea said in her time with the organization, she had never seen such a feat. “We are impressed by this reporter’s coverage of several challenging stories,” the judges said of Terence. “His reporting style and skills were excellent. This is a writer who seems to tackle any subject with ease and produces readable, well-sourced stories.” Alexa Altman, our former LIC editor, won second place for Writer of the Year for her “wide variety of stories with strong imagery and a good grasp of language.” For our coverage of Sandy and other news events throughout the year, we won fi rst place Best In-Depth Reporting and second place Best Spot News Coverage. “This newspaper does a lot for its community,” the judges said. “This paper saw its job as not just the storyteller of the storm, but the informer as well, and subsequently, by year’s end, the upstanding citizen.” Our talented staff also took home awards for Best Special Section Advertising and a fi rst-place win for Best Special Section Cover. And our website, www.queenscourier.com – your source for breaking news – was classifi ed by judges as “well organized and relevant,” in its second place win for Best Newspaper Website, thanks to the efforts of all, especially web editor Cristabelle Tumola. “I am so proud of our team,” said Courier copublisher Joshua Schneps. “They truly deserve to be recognized for their excellence, hard work and dedication. The awards represented both team and individual accomplishments in every part of the business.” As we forge ahead, The Queens Courier will remain true to our motto, “We’re all about you.” We will, as the NYPA judges remarked, continue to do our community proud. THE COURIER/Photo by Tonia N. Cimino Our award-winning team: Terence M. Cullen, Cristabelle Tumola, Maggie Hayes and Melissa Chan.
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