BY SUE M. MORGAN
Staff Writer
EATONTOWN — The retired Memorial School music teacher accused of sexually assaulting two former students now faces charges of violating a court order and witness tampering after he allegedly e-mailed one of his victims.
John J. Collins, a former borough councilman and 35-year educator in the local school district, who also once helmed the Eatontown Municipal Band, was arrested on Aug. 1 at his Cloverdale Avenue home by borough police and detectives from the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office according to police reports.
The 57-year-old, who was arrested and charged twice in March on sexual assault accusations, was further charged with fourth-degree contempt of court for contacting one of his two victims in violation of a court order issued after his first arrest and third-degree witness tampering, according to police.
Collins remains free on $10,000 bail on the latest charges and is banned from using computers by the order of N.J. Superior Court Judge Paul F. Chaiet, issued on Aug. 2 in Freehold.
To date, Collins has posted a total of $210,000 bail after his third arrest since March. All three are related to the sexual assault charges.
Since Collins’ first arrest on March 15, the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office has been leading the investigation into the charges. Monmouth County Prosecutor Luis A. Valentin could not be reached for comment at press time.
Following both arrests in March, Collins’ attorney, Charles J. Uliano, of West Long Branch, indicated that his client will plead not guilty to all of the charges.
Uliano is out of town until Monday, according to staffers at his office, and could not be reached for comment about the latest charges at press time.
As a result of the alleged physical relationships with both girls, Collins faces charges of four counts of aggravated sexual assault, a first-degree offense, and two counts of child endangerment, a second-degree offense.
The two girls both studied music with Collins when they attended Eatontown’s Memorial School, authorities have said. The physical relationships with the music teacher began when they participated in the Eatontown Municipal Band after graduating Memorial, a seventh- and eighth-grade school, according to local and county authorities.
The victim that Collins is accused of e-mailing is now a student at an area high school while the second victim, who authorities report had a physical relationship with the teacher for 10-months between August 2000 and June 2001 when she was 13 and 14, now attends college.
Authorities have not released the identities of either victim.
Collins was first arrested by Eatontown police and detectives from the Prosecutor’s Office on March 15, eight days after witnesses observed him kissing the younger victim inside his vehicle as he picked her up outside the high school she attends.
The teacher was released on $160,000 bail at that time.
Authorities have stated that most of the reported physical contact between Collins and that victim is believed to have occurred after Monday night practices of the municipal band inside the teacher’s classroom at Memorial.
The municipal band is a community-based, volunteer operation with no financial ties to the school district.
The Eatontown Board of Education voted on March 21 to suspend Collins with pay from his $79,131 teaching post pending further investigation of the charges.
Collins was arrested and charged with sexual assault for a second time on March 29 after the college-aged female came forward to Eatontown police and reported that the teacher had engaged in a physical relationship with her as a young teen.
That contact also occurred after the municipal band practices at Memorial, authorities have said.
Three days after his second arrest and release on an additional $40,000 bail, Collins, a Republican councilman for 20 years, resigned after Mayor Gerald J. Tarantolo publicly recommended he step down from office in the wake of the charges.
In reply to Collins’ written request for early retirement in April, the school board accepted his retirement, effective June 1.
Collins founded the Eatontown Municipal Band in 2000 and was named Memorial’s Teacher of the Year in 2004.

