A man on leave from his job as an assistant principal at a Roxbury high school recently pleaded not guilty to sex crime charges involving an underage boy.

The suspect is a 56-year-old man from Rockaway Township, New Jersey. He has been accused of inappropriately touching the victim at his home in September 2014. According to the Morris County Prosecutor’s Office, the victim was living at the residence on a part-time basis when the illegal sexual contact occurred.

After the incident, the teenage victim reportedly spoke with a counselor at the Excel Treatment Center in Dover NJ and said that the suspect committed the sexual offense.

The suspect’s criminal defense lawyers have countered that the victim later came back to the drug treatment center with his dad and recanted his story.

The suspect faces numerous criminal charges, including aggravated criminal sexual contact, criminal sexual contact, and endangering the welfare of a child.

The suspect recently appeared in Morris County Superior Court in Morristown NJ for arraignment proceedings. During the arraignment, the suspect formally entered a plea of “not guilty” to the very serious sex crime charges.

The victim was reportedly not a student at Roxbury High School, the school where the suspect worked as an assistant principal. As soon as the criminal charges were filed against the suspect, the school suspended him from his duties.

For further information about this case, see the NJ.com article, “Ex-Roxbury Educator Pleads Not Guilty in Teen Sex Case.”