by Sean Ruppert, Staff Writer
A former South Brunswick High School physical education teacher who had been accused of having a sexual relationship with an underage student was sentenced Friday to three years in prison after he pleaded guilty to a lesser charge.
Daniel Kerekes, 37, was remanded into state custody following his sentencing by Superior Court Judge Frank DeVesa in New Brunswick on Oct. 17.
Mr. Kerekes will be able to apply for an early release into the county’s Intensive Supervision Program after he has served 60 days in prison and will not have to register himself on the sex offender registry, according to Assistant Prosecutor Christie Bevacqua.
Mr. Kerekes had been a physical education teacher at SBHS since 1999, and was also employed as the boys lacrosse coach at West Windsor-Plainsboro High School South. On April 26, Mr. Kerekes was arrested at his South River home and charged with sexual assault for allegedly engaging in a sexual relationship with a 16-year-old female student from South Brunswick. He could have faced up to 10 years in prison on that charge.
Mr. Kerekes, represented by G. Robert Wills of the Princeton firm Wills, O’Neil & Melk, pleaded guilty to a charge of endangering the welfare of a child in July, after working out a deal with county prosecutors. Ms. Bevacqua said he was sentenced in the third degree, and will have his teaching license permanently revoked.
School administrators had become suspicious of Mr. Kerekes and reported their suspicions to the South Brunswick Police Department. The police investigated with the Middlesex County prosecutor’s office, and found that Mr. Kerekes had engaged in an ongoing sexual relationship with the student, beginning in Nov. 2007 and continuing until his arrest in April.

