Prosecutors are refusing to back down against a wealthy young math teacher accused of having sex with his 16-year-old student from the Riverdale Country School in the Bronx.
The DA’s office will not reduce the charges against the now-fired teacher, Richard Hovan, a Manhattan judge revealed during a brief hearing today.
Hovan’s lawyer, Vinoo Varghese, had asked that the charges be lowered to a misdemeanor that would not result in Hovan registering as a sex offender. The empasse means a trial in the troubling case could begin by year’s end.
Today, Varghese told Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Charles Solomon that Hovan has submitted to a polygraph test in which he truthfully denied the felony charges, which allege that he had oral contact with the girl in April and May of 2011.
“The polygraph supports that he is an innocent man,” Varghese told the judge.
Prosecutor Shanda Strain apparently isn’t buying it; the judge set May 14 as Hovan’s next court date. Hovan, who has continued to tutor math according to his lawyer, remains free on $25,000 bail.