Roxbury Asst. Principal pleads innocent to sex charge

A plea of not guilty was entered Wednesday on behalf of Roxbury High School Assistant Principal Roger Schneider, who was charged last month with sexually touching a 15-year-old boy who lived off-and-on with the official at his Rockaway Township home.

Schneider, a 55-year-old retired Clifton Police Department officer, was charged April 25 with endangering the welfare of a child and aggravated criminal sexual contact. A criminal complaint filed in Superior Court, Morristown, alleges that Schneider on Sept. 1, 2014, in Rockaway Township, touched the boy’s genitals.

Schneider was able to immediately post $100,000 bail and appeared Wednesday before Municipal Court Judge Michael Carlucci for a so-called “central judicial processing” hearing in Superior Court, Morristown. Municipal court judges now conduct at the courthouse first appearances for defendants who are free on bail and charged with indictable offenses.

Defense lawyer Thomas Murphy of Belleville waived a reading of the charges before Carlucci and entered a plea of not guilty on behalf of Schneider, who stood silently beside him. Schneider was ordered to next appear in Superior Court on June 8.

“We expect to be vindicated completely,” Murphy said after the two-minute hearing.

After his arrest, Schneider was placed on administrative leave from Roxbury, where he was hired as an assistant principal 10 months ago. Schneider also had been serving as president of the Morris Hills Regional Board of Education but has stepped down from that position. A biography Schneider had provided to the Daily Record when he ran for the board of education stated he was married with two children, had been a school resource officer at Clifton High School, and served as a youth leader at Hillside Church in Roxbury.

During the week of April 20, the alleged victim disclosed to a third person that Schneider sexually touched him, according to a release from the Morris County Prosecutor’s Office.

Schneider was interviewed by detectives on April 24 and “admitted committing acts of contact upon (the victim’s) intimate parts,” the release said. The alleged victim, who is not a student in Roxbury, told detectives that Schneider’s hand contacted his genitals and that he resided at Schneider’s home part-time between August 2013 and January of this year, the release said.

By allowing the teen to live at his home, Schneider was acting “in loco parentis” -- in the role of a parent -- with the consent of the youth’s natural parents, the release said.

Upon conviction, the child endangerment charge carries punishment of up to 10 years in prison; the aggravated criminal sexual contact charge has a punishment of up to five years behind bars.

Anyone with information related to the charges or any similar conduct by this defendant is asked to contact Detective Bruce LaFera of the Morris County Prosecutor’s Office Sex Crimes/Child Endangerment Unit at 973 285-6200.

Staff Writer Peggy Wright: 973-267-1142; pwright@GannettNJ.com