Former Mater Dei Teacher Pleads Guilty to Sexual Assault of Student

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MIDDLETOWN — A township resident and former teacher at Mater Dei Prep Catholic high school pleaded guilty in Superior Court to charges he sexually assaulted a former student.

According to Monmouth County Prosecutor Peter Warshaw Jr., William Miltner, 29, entered a plea of sexual assault as part of a negotiated agreement between the defendant and prosecutor’s office over Miltner’s sexual relationship with a student while he was a teacher at the school.
Miltner had been a teacher, dean of students and soccer coach at Mater Dei, a co-ed high school, located in the New Monmouth section of the township. He was arrested last April at his Acker Road home, after school officials received an anonymous e-mail revealing that Miltner had been having a sexual relationship with a then-16-year-old female student at the school, the prosecutor’s office said at the time.
School officials, authorities said, immediately contacted township police and the prosecutor’s office. Their investigation revealed that Miltner had been involved in the inappropriate relationship between March and September 2009.
School officials fired Miltner when he was arrested.
Last July 13, a Monmouth County grand jury handed down an indictment charging Miltner with two counts of second degree sexual assault, one count of second degree endangering the welfare of a child under the age of 18, and one count of fourth degree criminal sexual contact.
In return for his guilty plea, county prosecutors agreed to recommend that Miltner receive five years in state prison. Miltner would also be required to register as a sexual offender under the state’s Megan’s Law, submit to parole supervision for life and permanently forfeit his state teaching license, according to the prosecutor’s office.
Miltner is scheduled to appear in court in Freehold again on April 20 for sentencing, authorities said.
Miltner’s lawyer, Vincent Falcetano Jr., when reached on Thursday afternoon, declined to comment.