A basketball coach from St. Matthew the Apostle School in Edison was arrested for allegedly performing a sex act in front of a 14- year-old girl on multiple occasions, according to authorities.
Darren Ventre, 40, of Fords, was charged with aggravated criminal sexual conduct and endangering the welfare of a child after his June 5 arrest, according to Middlesex County Prosecutor Andrew C. Carey and Robert Hubner, director of the Woodbridge Police Department.
During an investigation, Detective Grace Brown of the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office and Detective Tina Small of the Woodbridge Police Department determined that Ventre allegedly brought the teenage girl to his home and performed the sex act on a number of occasions over an extended period, authorities said.
The investigation began after the girl told a counselor about the incidents, and the counselor contacted the state Division of Child Protection and Permanency. Ventre volunteered as athletic director and as coach of the girls basketball team at the Catholic school.
He is being held at the Middlesex County Adult Correction Center in North Brunswick. Bail has been set at $75,000.
The investigation is active and continuing. Anyone with information is asked to call Brown at the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office at 732-745-3600, or Small at the Woodbridge Police Department at 732-643- 7700.