Former Triton Principal, Teachers Collected $95K+ While Suspended

Three former Triton Regional High School educators received paychecks totaling nearly $100,000 while they were suspended as a result of a teacher-student sex case that rocked the school last fall.

Former principal Catherine DePaul and former teachers Jeffrey P. Logandro and Daniel R. Michielli stopped receiving paychecks when they forfeited their positions at the Runnemede school with guilty pleas entered earlier this month. None can ever hold public office in New Jersey again under the plea deals.

According to figures provided to Patch by Black Horse Pike Regional School District (BHPRSD) this week as part of a broader Open Public Records Act filing, the district paid DePaul $50,600.56, Logandro $23,753.66 and Michielli $21,427.32 over the course of their suspensions.

Criminal cases are still pending against former Triton vice principal Jernee Kollock, who was transferred to Timber Creek High School last summer, and teacher Nicholas Martinelli.

Both Kollock and Martinelli continue to draw paychecks from the district while they are suspended.

The district has no legal recourse to recoup money it paid the three educators while they were suspended, BHPRSD Superintendent John Golden said on Wednesday.

Logandro and Michielli pleaded guilty to one count of third-degree conspiracy to commit official misconduct on Feb. 11. They'll be sentenced March 15 and both face a 30-day sentence served in county jail, at home or through another jail program.

DePaul was immediately sentenced to one year of probation after entering her guilty plea Feb. 11 to one count of a disorderly persons offense for failure to report to law enforcement allegations of child abuse or neglect.

The alleged sexual relationships between Triton teachers and students took place between November 2011 and June 2012, according to the Camden County Prosecutor's Office.

Logandro and Michielli's victims were 17 years old at the time of their relationships with the girls. Both men originally were charged with second-degree endangering the welfare of a child and official misconduct and fourth-degree criminal sexual contact.

Michielli faced an additional count of second-degree sexual assault.

Martinelli is charged only with second-degree official misconduct, and no sex-specific offenses, as his alleged victim was 18 years old at the time of the accused improper sexual relationship.

Both DePaul and Kollock were charged in October with second-degree official misconduct, as well as a disorderly persons offense, for failing to report the teachers' misconduct when it was brought to their attention last spring.

Camden County Prosecutor Warren Faulk indicated his office was prepared to take the cases against Kollock and Martinelli to a grand jury following the Feb. 11 plea hearings if pre-trial deals could not be reached.

For more on the Triton teacher-student sex charges, also see:

• 'Foundation Jeopardized': School District Responds to Guilty Pleas
• BHPRSD Board Moves to Take Suspended Triton Educators' Pay
• Suspended Triton Educators Still Drawing Paychecks?
• School District Hires PR Firm in Wake of Triton Sex Scandal
• District, Superintendent Issue Statements on Triton Sex Scandal
• 'Shocked,' 'Astonished' Triton Students React to Sex Scandal
• [UPDATE] Triton Teachers Under Investigation

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