Their “relationship?”
She viewed the teacher as a mentor who helped with schoolwork and college applications. He allegedly wanted something more — a trip to Europe with her, perhaps.
Now he’s facing with a misdemeanor criminal charge at Superior Court in Derby, and he’s no longer teaching kids at Shelton High School.
So summarizes the arrest warrant police used Sept. 8 to charge former Shelton High School math teacher George Perduta, 57, with disorderly conduct.
Attempts to reach Perduta by phone and email were unsuccessful. The Valley Indy also left a message Wednesday with the lawyer handling his pending divorce. His court file does list a defense lawyer.
The Warrant
The disorderly conduct charge was lodged four months after Perduta allegedly took a 17-year-old female student out to dinner in West Haven, according to the warrant, then kissed her forehead during an awkward goodbye in the Walmart parking lot on Bridgeport Avenue in Shelton.
The conversation during the dinner at the Texas Road House last April was “normal,” the teen told police, but then Perduta began asking “what kind of relationship she wanted to have with him.”
The teen, then a senior at Shelton High School where Perduta taught math, thought it was “weird” and tried to ignore the question.
The teacher then allegedly said he “does not have a lot of happiness in his life” and that the teen was “the only thing in his life that makes him happy,” according to the arrest warrant.
The teen is identified in the arrest warrant as “Victim 1.”
“Victim 1 stated that Mr. Perduta asked her ‘If I bought you a ticket to Europe would you come with me?’” according to the warrant.
The teen tried to laugh and change the subject.
Perduta then allegedly complimented her appearance and intelligence, and later offered to pay for her graduate studies. He was getting divorced and “wanted (Victim 1) in his life,” the teen told police.
“ …Victim 1 then reported that she was uncomfortable at this point and the conversation dragged,” according to the teen’s statement to police.
Perduta then asked her if “she was out of words.” She said yes and they left the restaurant.
After dinner the pair drove back to Walmart in Shelton. There was little conversation in the car.
As she was getting out of the car she sensed Perduta wanted a hug. She leaned into hug him goodbye, but he brushed his hand on her face.
Then he tried to kiss her, according to the warrant, but the teen lowered her head so his lips landed on her forehead.
The teen told investigators she did not want to be kissed.
“Victim 1 stated that Mr. Perduta told her ‘I’m probably not going to see you after this,” according to the warrant. “Victim 1 stated that she was not sure what he meant by this but thinks he meant that he knew she would tell someone and he would get in trouble for it.”
The teen, now “upset,” according to police, immediately told a friend what happened. She wrote text messages twice saying she was “afraid.”
The friend told his mother about the teen’s “date.” The mom called police, which triggered the investigation.
Shelton Schools Respond
Perduta resigned from Shelton High School in May, about a month after the dinner.
But he had been put on paid administrative leave from his job teaching math on April 10, the day after the dinner, according to a letter in his personnel file.
The warrant indicates police worked hand-in-hand with school officials, including two members of the high school security team — Ben Trabka and Charles Stankye — who are recently retired police detectives.
“This leave is due pending an investigation by the Department of Children and Families and the Shelton Police Department that allegedly you are involved in an inappropriate relationship with a Shelton High School student,” the letter to Perduta from the school district’s human resources director said.
Police and school officials do not believe the teen and the former teacher were involved in a romantic relationship.
The teen told police Perduta had never made any sexual comments toward her and had never attempted to touch her prior to the incident in the Walmart parking lot.
She told police she had trusted him. He helped her with schoolwork and college applications.
Furthermore, police do not think the two ever met outside of school, other than the dinner.
“From what I understand, he was her math teacher and she described him as a mentor,” Detective Richard Bango told the Valley Indy. “This was the only time I was aware that they were together outside of work, and we investigated that.”
The Department of Children and Families apparently still has an investigation open, Bango said.
The school district looked into the matter, too, but Perduta’s personnel file does not have a document summarizing the results of the district’s investigation. It’s unclear if such a document exists.
The Charge
Disorderly conduct, a misdemeanor, has a rather wide definition under state law.
A person can be charged with disorderly conduct for making “unreasonable noise.”
Or a person can be charged for engaging in “threatening behavior.”
Or a person can also be charged with disorderly conduct for behaving in a way that “annoys or interferes with another person.”
Click here for even more behaviors that could trigger the charge.
Police drafted an arrest warrant May 7. It was signed by a judge Aug. 27. An arrest was made Sept. 8.
Bango, a Shelton detective, said the probe took four months because police were careful.
“That’s not really a long time for a thorough investigation,” Bango said.
Shelton police consider the investigation closed, assuming there’s no new info going forward.
Previous Discipline
Perduta, who was an elected member of the school board in Berlin before quitting in April, was previously suspended for 10 days in Shelton for unprofessional behavior.
According to a letter on file in Perduta’s personnel file, the district’s human resources department received a complaint from a person interning in the school’s technology center in November 2014.
The intern alleged Perduta — apparently upset that his calls to the technology help desk were being ignored — used profanity toward her, made disparaging remarks about the technology center and demanded her personal cell phone number.
The intern, according to the school district, felt threatened and “extremely intimidated” because of Perduta’s behavior and that the teacher “compromised her personal space by hovering over (her) as she attempted to provide you (Perduta) with computer services.”
The school district determined that Perduta had left a class unsupervised during his alleged outburst.
Perduta is scheduled to appear in Superior Court in Derby Sept. 22 to answer the disorderly conduct charge.
