WARNING: This article contains explicit detailed descriptions of child sexual abuse and may be disturbing to some readers.
NEW ROCHELLE, NY — This month marks the second anniversary of the conviction of Jose Martinez, a former New Rochelle school administrator, for engaging in sex with a 14-year old boy in his office at the Isaac E. Young Middle School between March and April 2010. With the case against Martinez now fully resolved, Talk of the Sound was able to obtain records from the office of the Westchester County District Attorney under a Freedom of Information Request.
The records include two hand-written and signed confessions by Martinez, crime lab records of analysis of biological fluids found on furniture left in Martinez office after he moved on to become the Assistant Principal at Jefferson Elementary School, crime scene photographs and a detailed narrative of the arrest and subsequent interrogation of Martinez by Detectives from the New Rochelle Police Department. The photographs have not yet been released pending approval.
The most startling set of information in the files is that on March 24, 2011 — a full year after he says sexual contact ended — Martinez admitted to “inappropriate communications” with the victim in the form of telephone conversations and via text messaging “within the past year or so”. The victim’s mother discovered that Martinez lied to her about communicating with her son via telephone conversations and text messaging and was doing at least up until March 12th, 2011.
The information suggests that Martinez may have continued to have a sexual relationship well beyond April 2010, after Martinez moved to Jefferson Elementary School following his promotion to Assistant Principal and the victim moved to New Rochelle High School after graduating 8th grade.
Martinez lied repeatedly during interrogation by New Rochelle police officers. Initially, Martinez stated that his inappropriate conduct was limited to “inappropriate communications”. Under further questioning, he admitted to having performed oral sex on the victim once. Later he admitted that he had performed oral sex on the victim four or five times. The victim told police that he and Martinez had performed oral sex on each other on at least 10-15 different occasions. A later report from the Westchester County Forensic Division also referenced self and mutual masturbation.
Martinez stated that the victim ejaculated on the floor. Semen matching the DNA of the victim and Martinez was found in several places in the office including the side of Martinez’s desk, the inside back portion of the desk, the top seat cushion of Martinez’s office chair and the left arm rest of Martinez’s office chair.
During the interrogation, Martinez denied having had sex with the victim at all, then claimed it happened “just” once, and then claimed it happened “just” 4 or 5 times. During the same interrogation, Martinez also claimed that the victim in the case was the only minor he ever had sex with in his life.
Talk of the Sound first reported that Martinez had quit his job working for the New Rochelle Board of Education and gone missing on Saturday March 19, 2011: New Assistant Principal at the Jefferson Elementary School in New Rochelle Abruptly Resigns, Disappears. He was last seen at Jefferson School on Friday March 11th.
The DA’s records fill in the time line between Martinez’s last day and his arrest on March 24th.
According to a narrative contained in New Rochelle police records, the victim’s mother stated that on Friday March 11, 2011 at approximately 6:00 p.m. she ran into Mr. Martinez while at Pelham Pizza. She related that her son was not doing well at school and that she asked Mr. Martinez to speak with him. The mother suggested to Mr. Martinez that he contact her son and Mr. Martinez replied that he did not have her son’s cell phone and that her son always contacted him at his office phone at Jefferson School and reiterated the fact that he did not have her son’s cell number and added that her son did not have his cell number.
Later in the evening at approximately 10:30-11:00, the mother says her son, using his cell phone communicated with an unknown party. When she asked her son who was he talking to so late at night her son “Shut Down” and began crying. The next day, Saturday March 12, 2011 at approximately 5:00-5:30 p.m. the mother, curious to know who her son was talking to the night before, dialed the number using the call back feature but received no answer. Moments later her son’s phone received a text message “What’s up”. The mother dialed the number again and this time Mr. Martinez answered the phone stating “What’s up”.
The mother confronted Mr. Martinez about his statement the day before – that he and her son did not have each other’s cell phone number and that they only communicated on his office phone at Jefferson School – Mr. Martinez replied that he had located her son’s number in his office. The mother and Martinez agreed to meet in his office at Jefferson School on Tuesday March 15, 2011. She informed Mr. Martinez that her husband would not be available and that she was going to come to the meeting with someone else because she wanted “another pair of ears”.
Talk of the Sound has previously reported that it was on Sunday March 13th, the day following the telephone conversation between Martinez and the victim’s mother that Martinez went to the Jefferson Elementary School, cleaned out his office and left a resignation letter for school principal Kimmerly Nieves.
Talk of the Sound was the first to report on the unexpected resignation and subsequent disappearance of Martinez on March 21st, a report which included the statement: “Martinez left after a parent made serious allegations about Martinez on Facebook”.
The mother of the victim in the case knew that neither she nor her husband had made an allegation against Martinez on Facebook suggesting the possibility of a second victim.
Based on information provided by Robert Cox of Talk of the Sound, a New Rochelle Police detective did later interview the parent making the allegation on Facebook. Her child was a student at Jefferson Elementary School. The mother making the claim on Facebook denied that her allegation on Facebook was related to child sex abuse by Martinez and that line of investigation closed.
However, the Talk of the Sound report did embolden the victim’s mother to go to police, according to sources familiar with the investigation.
The day after the Talk of the Sound story was published, March 22nd, 2011, the victim’s mother appeared at the New Rochelle Police Department expressing concerns about the relationship between her son and Mr. Martinez. Detective Claudio Carpano and Lieutenant Christopher Hearle met with the victim’s mother who related to them that her son had known Mr. Martinez for a period of 4 years and that during this time Mr. Martinez has been very helpful in mentoring her son.
The next day, on March 23rd, 2011, the victim in the case appeared at the New Rochelle Police Department with his mother. Lieutenant Hearle and Detective Carpano met with the boy in the office of the General Investigations Unit. The victim told police that during a two month period, between March and April 2010, he and Mr. Martinez, engaged in a sexual relationship. The victim related that during the two month period, he and Mr. Martinez performed oral sex on each other on at least 10-15 different occasions – always in Mr. Martinez’s office located within the Isaac E. Young Middle School.
The victim stated that at first Mr. Martinez would just caress his penis but that after the third or fourth time they met Mr. Martinez began performing oral sex on him and that after a couple of times Mr. Martinez asked the boy to perform oral sex on him. The boy related that neither he nor Mr. Martinez reach orgasm every time but that when they did, they would ejaculate on the floor of Mr. Martinez’s office.
After an extensive effort to locate Martinez, police convinced Martinez to meet them at his home at 205 Elliot Street in Brentwood, NY. At about 5:00 p.m. on March 24th, 2011, Lieutenant Hearle, Detective Carpano along with detectives Herring, O’Rourke, and Messina met Martinez at his Brentwood home and informed him that he was being placed under arrest and charged with the commission of a criminal sexual act. He was Mirandized and transported to the New Rochelle Police Department.
Carpano met with Jose Martinez in the office of the General Investigations Unit, again informing him that he was under arrest and charged with the commission of a criminal sex act and again advised of his constitutional rights. Martinez stated that he understood his rights and that he was willing to cooperate with the investigation.
Carpano asked if Martinez had any idea as to why he was being charged with the commission of a criminal sex act and Martinez replied “Because of what I did with [the Victim]”.
Carpano then asked Martinez to tell him about [the Victim]. Martinez replied “he is one of my students”. Martinez confirmed that he knew the boy’s last name.
Carpano continued by asking Martinez what would make him think that this was about a student named [Victim] and Martinez stated “because he is the only kid I ever did something like this with”.
Carpano asked Martinez what “something like this” meant and Martinez stated that over a period of time he contacted the boy on his cell phone and had inappropriate communications with the boy both in the form of telephone conversations and via text messaging. Martinez would not elaborate as to the content of the communications and or provide a specific time frame in which those communications took place other then “within the past year or so”.
Carpano informed Martinez that information received by police suggested that a greater degree of inappropriateness had taken place between he and the boy above and beyond cell phone communications. Martinez adamantly denied any other form of inappropriate behavior and or wrong doing stating “Come on he is only ____”.
As the interview progressed Martinez admitted performing oral sex on the boy on one occasion while in his office at the Isaac E. Young Middle School and provided a signed written statement to that affect. The statement contains a number of grammatical errors and otherwise inarticulate statements.
Today 3/24/2011, Jose Martinez am given this statement to Det. Carpano of my own free will
I initially met [Victim] in 2007 September when I was the Dean at Isaac E. Young Middle School. [Victim] was a student that was made fun of by other students. I assisted [Victim] as a mentor in making relationships with his peers and was able to give him the confidence and support that he needed. [Victim]’s parents were having issues in [Victim’s Family]’s home life. They constantly argued and ignored him. He would come to my office to talk about sports and other life events. As the two and a half years progressed we began to talk more. His mother encouraged both of us to talk and she asked me to be more involved in his life. His relationship with his father had improved.
In April of 2010, [Victim] came to see me after school in my office at Isaac Young Middle School we were talking and he [illegible] dropped his pants. I performed oral sex on him. I knew this was wrong and something that should have never happened inappropriate due to his age this was the first and only time I performed oral sex on [Victim]. When he was about to come he came on the floor
[illegible] is inappropriate and I would like the help to get better. I truly am sorry for my inappropriate actions. I didn’t mean to cause anyone pain. I understand that this age of 14 1/2 was wrong.
Subsequently Martinez amended the signed written statement by providing a second signed written statement in which he stated that he performed oral sex on the victim on 4 or 5 different occasions during a two month period, March – April 2010, and reiterated that all such encounters with the victim occurred in his office while he was the Dean at the Isaac E. Young Middle School.
I, Jose Martinez, wish to amend my statement to include that I had performed oral sex on one of my student [Victim] 4 to 5 times and not the one time as I previously stated in my first statement wish I gave to Detective Carpano approximately 30 minutes ago. The incidents occurred within the 2 month period of March to April 2010. All 4 to 5 incidents on which I performed oral sex on [Victim] in my office at Isaac E. Young.
Jose Martinez was booked for violation of PL 130.45 (Criminal Sexual Act- 2nd degree) and placed in a holding cell pending arraignment.
The arrest was announced to the media the following morning.
On March 25th, 2011 Martinez was formally charged with a felony during an arraignment in New Rochelle City Court.
Be it known that the complainant herein Det. Carpano of the City of New Rochelle Police Department, Westchester County, New York accuses the defendant{s) named above ‘of the following offense(s} committed at the Assistant Principal’s Office, Issac Young Middle School, 270 Centre Ave, City of New Rochelle, New York approximately during the months of March & April, 2010
COUNT ONE: The Offense of CRIMINAL SEXUAL ACT IN THE SECOND DEGREE in Violation of Penal Law PL1304501DF2
The Defendant(s) at the above date, time and place did being eighteen years old or more, he engaged in oral sexual conduct with another person less than fifteen years old.
To wit: The defendant(s) at the above date, time and place, did intentionally engage in sexual conduct when he placed his mouth upon the penis of [Victim] DOB _____ at least four separate occasions.
The above allegation(s) of fact are made by the complainant herein on direct knowledge (and upon information and belief), with the source(s) of complainant’s information and the grounds for his or her belief being police investigation.
Forensic evidence was collected at Isaac Young Middle School on the morning of March 25, 2011.
Sent to the Westchester County Division of Forensic Sciences was the following evidence:
- biological fluid from side of desk
- biological fluid from inside back portion of desk
- biological fluid from top seat cushion of office chair
- biological fluid from arm rest (left) of office chair
The lab report was completed on April 15, 2011 and noted the following:
Case Comments: Defendant arrested and charged with committing various sexual acts in his office at Isaac Young Middle School in New Rochelle. These acts included but were not limited to self and mutual masturbation and whereby defendant states he and victim did ejaculate semen. No specific area of the office other then those areas where an alternate light source was used and detected a luminescence similar to semen. Request swabs be examined for DNA and tested against defendant’s and victim’s DNA kits.
The biological samples were matched to the defendant’s and victim’s DNA. Based on this and his own admissions, Jose Martinez plead guilty on July 20, 2011 was sentenced on October 11, 2011 to time served (3 1/2 months) and 10 years probation.
On March 20, 2012 was assessed to be a Level 2 Sex Offender.
Talk of the Sound has reported several times that school officials sought to cover up the matter before, during and after Martinez’s abrupt resignation on March 13th, 2011. A promised investigation by the school district never took place on the grounds that a civil lawsuit was filed on behalf of the victim.
Martinez currently resides in Brooklyn and works at a physical therapy center in Brentwood, NY.
RELATED:
BREAKING NEWS: New Rochelle Police Arrest Jose Martinez, Recently Resigned Assistant Principal of Jefferson School
Jose Martinez Court Appearance Today in New Rochelle City Court (4/5/11)
Martinez Bail Reduction Denied in White Plains, Waives Appearance in New Rochelle (4/15/11)
Audio from New Rochelle Police Press Conference on Arrest of Jose Martinez Friday March 24, 2011
New Rochelle F.U.S.E. Union President Martin Daly Comments on Martinez Arrest
New Rochelle Board of Education President Issues Vague Denials in Jose Martinez Child Rape Case