A retired Hamilton high school teacher admitted last week to having sexual conduct with a female student over 20 years ago, the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office said.
Joseph DePuglio, 77, of Ewing, entered the pretrial intervention program on an endangering the welfare of a child charge as part of a plea agreement with the Mercer prosecutor’s office.
During the plea hearing on April 18, DePuglio admitted to engaging in sexual conduct with a Steinert High School student between 1998 and 2000, the office said.
DePuglio taught physics at Steinert before retiring in 2008 after 40 years as a teacher. He also ran a musical band for physics students. He collects an annual pension of about $56,000.
Pretrial intervention cases are for first-time offenders, carry no time behind bars, and defendants who successfully complete the diversionary program can eventually seek an expungement.
The victim in the case reported allegations about DePuglio to Ewing police in late 2022 and authorities arrested him in March 2023, initially charging him with a sexual assault charge as well. Authorities previously said DePuglio had sex with the victim at his home.
Attorney information wasn’t available for DePuglio Monday.
Daniel B. Shapiro, the attorney who represented the victim as Jane Doe in a now-settled civil suit against DePuglio, said children and teens do not always have the maturity to understand they’re being “groomed,” and often mistake as positive attention what is essentially coercive and manipulative.
That’s why recent laws that opened new windows to allow victims to bring suits from incidents that are decades old are so important, Shapiro said.
“As we know now, It takes years for victims to be strong enough to fully understand their injuries and have the courage, like Jane Doe, to stand up to their abusers,” Shapiro said.
“The emotional and psychological damage caused by a trusted teacher who takes advantage of his supervisory and disciplinary authority to sexually abuse a student is enormous and life-long,” he added.
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Kevin Shea may be reached at kshea@njadvancemedia.com.
