Former Morris County Teacher Pleads Guilty To Molesting Students

The former Montville grade-school teacher who was indicted in 2013 with charges of molestation at various schools pleaded guilty Thursday to molesting four female students and having sex with an older teen he met while working at Butler high school as an assistant coach in 1997, according to the Daily Record.

Jason Fennes, 42, pleaded guilty to two counts of aggravated assault and three counts of sexual assault, said the Daily Record, which will keep the victims involved from having to participate in a trial.

Fennes will also plead guilty to charges of molesting a girl at a grade school he worked at after he was banned from returning to William Mason Elementary School in Montville. That case will be carried out on Sept. 30 at the Superior Court in Somerset County.

Fennes has been charged with allegations of sexual assault and inappropriate physical contact with students spanning over a decade. He was indicted in 2013 with three counts of first-degree aggravated sexual assault, eight counts of second-degree sexual assault, and four counts of second-degree endangering the welfare of a child.

His charges include allegations of sexual abuse of a former student who was between the ages of 14 and 16, who he met when he was a track coach at Butler High School in 1997. After he resigned from the high school, Fennes began a job as a first grade teacher at the William Mason Elementary School in Montville in 1998.

Fennes allegedly sexually abused the Somerset County child in February 2012, while working as a first-grade teacher for Cedar Hill Prep School. Fennes immediately picked up a job at Cedar Hill after he'd been fired and forced to never to work in any Montville district school by an agreement he made with the Montville Board of Education after they learned of some of his inappropriate actions.

Before sentencing occurs, scheduled for December 2 according to the Daily Record, Fennes will be subject to analysis by the state's Adult Diagnostic and Treatment Center for sexual offenders in Avenel. The Daily Record says that if he is found to need treatment as a compulsive and repetitive sex offender, he may serve out parts or all of his sentence in that sex offender prison, rather than going to state prison. Either way, he will be required to register with Megan's Law once he is released from prison.

Additional reporting by Ariana Cohn-Sheehan.