On Aug. 4, Westchester County District Attorney Miriam E. Rocah announced that a teaching assistant at the Biondi School in Yonkers was charged with endangering the welfare of an 11-year-old student in a classroom.
DA Rocah said: “The defendant allegedly violated the trust placed in him as an educator and harmed one of the students in his care. My office is committed to protecting the most vulnerable and holding those who harm them accountable.”
The defendant, Suleiman Rabadi, 36, of Yonkers, who was employed as a teaching assistant at the Biondi School, a kindergarten to 12th grade special education school in Yonkers, was arrested by the Westchester County District Attorney’s Office and arraigned in Yonkers City Court on Aug. 2. He was charged via misdemeanor information with Endangering the Welfare of a Child, a misdemeanor.
On March 9, at approximately 9:30 a.m., the defendant, who was overseeing a time-out period at the school, allegedly grabbed an 11-year-old student by the back of his neck and repeatedly pushed the victim’s head down to his knees. The defendant allegedly proceeded to push the victim to the ground. Most of the incident was captured on surveillance video.
The Westchester County District Attorney’s Office Child Abuse Bureau and Criminal Investigators from the Special Prosecutions Unit conducted the investigation with the New York State Justice Center for the Protection of People with Special Needs.
The defendant was arraigned before Yonkers City Court Judge Verris B. Shako and is being prosecuted by Child Abuse Bureau Chief Christine Hatfield of the Special Prosecutions Division. The defendant is scheduled to appear again in Yonkers City Court on Sept. 5.
Anyone who may have been victimized by the defendant or may have information about other possible victims can contact the DA’s Office Special Prosecutions Division at (914) 995-3000. Language assistance is available.
The charges against the defendant are merely an accusation, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
This is the second charge given to an employee at the Biondi School recently. Last month, a former teacher, Sandy Carazas-Pinez, was charged with enticing a minor victim to engage in illegal sexual activity and production of child pornography by US Attorney Damian Williams.
Note: The Biondi School is run by non-profit Rising Ground. It is a school for special needs children and is not operated by the Yonkers Public Schools.
