Seward teacher arrested for sexual relationship with student

Sugar loaf — Brian P. Egan of Sugar Loaf, an English teacher at S.S. Seward Institute in Florida, was arrested Oct. 8 on felony charges of having oral sex with a student at the school when she was 16 years old. John Van Der Molen, senior investigator with the New York State Police, said Egan, 40, was surprised by the allegations. But he said Egan cooperated fully and admitted to receiving oral sex from his student after school “on numerous occasions” between Sept. 2004 and April 2005. Egan is also junior varsity girls basketball coach at the high school. The Florida superintendent of schools, Douglas Burnside, said he is treating the arrest as a personnel matter, and that he is investigating the allegations. “I really want to be very careful what I share with you,” said Burnside when asked if Egan was teaching at the school after the Columbus Day holiday. He took no further questions about Egan’s employment status. Egan’s Web page on the school’s online site was still available Thursday, as this paper goes to press. The page included a John Steinbeck quote and cartoons about Frankenstein and pop stars. According to the site, his English 12 class was scheduled to discuss Mary Shelley’s book, “Frankenstein,” on Oct. 9, the day he was released from Orange County jail on $2,500 bail. He was arraigned before Village of Florida Justice Richard Shuback and is scheduled to reappear on Oct. 22 for further court action. Egan was called out of his classroom on the morning of Oct. 8 and asked to go to the state police barracks in Monroe, where the arresting officer, Investigator Leonard Caruso explained the allegations. The police charged Egan with one felony count of a criminal sexual act in the third degree. The police said it remains unclear why Egan’s former student, now in college, waited until now to come forward with her allegations. The police have no other reports about Egan from other victims. The police said they take special precautions in investigating sex crimes, in order to protect both the victim and the accused. They have been in contact with the school since the arrest. Anyone with additional information relating to allegations of criminal conduct by Egan is asked to contact state police at Monroe at 782-8311.