Police: Arrested Plum Teacher Met Female Student Outside Of School Several Times
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) - A second teacher from the Plum Borough School District has been charged with having an inappropriate relationship with a student.
Joseph Ruggieri, 40, an English teacher and the vice president of the education association, was arrested on Tuesday at his home in New Kensington. He is charged with institutional sexual assault and corruption of a minor.
Police say he and a female student frequently met outside of the school.
According to the criminal complaint, the female student told police Ruggieri also invited her to his home, where they had sex on several occasions.
In addition, police say Ruggieri may have been involved with several victims over a several years.
"We had various sources that came to us that wanted to provide information about things that they know or saw or knew of, and we realized once we started sifting through this information that we weren't dealing with one particular victim, but rather multiple victims," Plum Borough Police Chief Jeff Armstrong said.
Ruggieri has been removed from the school.
Police first learned about Ruggieri's alleged relationship while investigating another teacher from the school.
Last week, a chemistry teacher, 38-year-old Jason Cooper, was arrested on similar charges.
Cooper is accused of having an inappropriate relationship with an 18-year-old student.
Police say in the case of Cooper, there is only one alleged victim; but when it comes to Ruggieri, there were many girls, allegedly spanning several years. Some are still at the high school, others have graduated.
"We've just begun the investigation into other allegations. We are dealing with each victim as a separate incident," said Chief Armstrong.
Meantime, the school district is not commenting on the investigation, but Joe Tommarello, the director of the Plum Borough School Board says: "Our number one priority as a school board is the safety of our students. I will be introducing and discussing a non-fraternization policy to the board, that will clearly spell out in black and white what type of behavior and communication will or will not be tolerated between employees and students of the district."
The district also says, they are not investigating any other teacher-student relationships.
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