A grand jury has indicted Upper West Side teacher’s aide Gregory Atkins on charges he sexually abused an 8-year-old boy at the high performing PS 87, Manhattan prosecutors announced this afternoon.
Atkins, 56, an employee at the school since 2008, declined to appear in open court, where news reporters and photographers waited for a look at him.
He remains held in lieu of $250,000 bail posted at his arraignment on Feb. 11. Prosecutors say his victim told authorities that Atkins took him out of class on four occasions, bringing him to the boys’ bathroom and telling him to undress so that he could “check for bruises.”
On the final occasion, Atkins asked the boy to perform a sex act — which the boy refused, immediately contacting school authorities, prosecutors say.
He is due back in court March 14, when he will enter a plea of not guilty to the indictment, said his lawyer, Ralph Cherchian.
“He’s doing relatively well under the circumstances,” said Cherchian, a court appointed lawyer. Prosecutors are going through Atkins’ computer and other communications devices, but “my impression is they are not going to turn up anything incriminating,” the lawyer said.
Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott has conceded that Atkins was hired at the elementary school despite his being accused of acting inappropriately with another young student at MS 322 back in 2006.
On that occasion, Atkins was reprimanded verbally for spending time outside of school with the boy and sending him inappropriate gifts — including a jock strap. Walcott blamed the communications glitch on Atkins not having been reprimanded in writing.