N.J. School District Failed to Protect Former Student from 'Obsessed' Teacher Who Allegedly Groped Her and Sent Her Love Notes, Lawsuit Alleges By KC Baker

A New Jersey woman is suing her former school district for allegedly failing to protect her when her high school teacher groomed and sexually assaulted her.

In a civil complaint filed on Jan. 14 in New Jersey Superior Court, a woman identified as Jane Doe A.H. alleges that for more than two years beginning in 2016, Brantley Cesanek, a Latin teacher at Cherokee High School, “preyed upon” her while she was a “young high school student he was entrusted to teach.”

As a result, she was allegedly subjected to sexual grooming, sexual advances and eventually sexual assault, according to the complaint obtained by PEOPLE.

The lawsuit alleges that at one point, Cesanek took the girl into his classroom during school, “pinned her against a wall, and kissed her while touching and groping her underneath her dress.”

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“This case exposes the horrific experience of a minor student who was abused for years by a teacher and the school system that failed to protect that student,” the lawsuit claims, adding that it “stands as a stark reminder of the dire consequences when those in power choose to turn a blind eye over the safety and well-being of those they are meant to protect.”

Named in the suit — which is seeking compensatory and punitive damages as well as a jury trial — are the Lenape Regional High School District Board of Education, the Lenape Regional High School District, Cherokee High School and Cesanek.

Arrested in October 2018, Cesanek was charged with sexual assault, endangering the welfare of a child and official misconduct.

This came after a police investigation into the teacher indicated that he was involved in an “inappropriate … ongoing sexual relationship” with a student, according to a statement from the Burlington County Prosecutor’s Office.

“The sexual contact occurred at Cesanek’s home in the 300 block of South Park Drive. There was also improper conduct by the defendant with the student while at school,” according to the statement, which notes that he pleaded guilty to second-degree endangering the welfare of a child and was sentenced to five years in prison in September 2019.

Cesanek stopped teaching after the arrest and is no longer employed by the district.

He has since been released from prison.

The complaint alleges that Cesanek began preying upon the girl when she was a 15-year-old sophomore and joined the Latin club, which he ran.

During his time with her, he regularly told her she was beautiful, gave her “expensive gifts” including a soccer jersey, let her eat lunch in his classroom and gave her numerous hall passes, it alleges.

He found “surreptitious ways to give her attention, such as bringing her — and only her — breakfast and coffee to school many mornings, in full view of other staff members, who observed this pattern repeatedly but failed to question or report it,” according to the suit.

He would also pass her handwritten love letters, the suit alleges, including one that ended with the words “I love you” written in Greek, “which Cesanek learned A.H. could speak fluently while spending excessive amounts of unsupervised and unnecessary time with A.H. at the School, time the School authorized and facilitated.”

“This was not romance — this was a grown man declaring his ‘love’ to a child he was systematically grooming for sexual abuse, grooming that occurred entirely on school property during school hours with the School’s implicit permission,” the suit states.

By the time the girl was a senior, she began withdrawing from Cesanek when she realized his behavior “was abusive” and she felt “traumatized by their interactions,” the suit alleges. His alleged “obsession” with her continued after she went to college and, per the complaint, he showed up to her dormitory “unannounced, in a final act of stalking.”

While the teen was away at college, her mother found a bag filled with love notes and an “excessive amount of hall passes” Cesanek allegedly wrote for her, per the suit, which states that “the sheer volume of hall passes — physical documentation the School generated and should have tracked — evidenced a pattern the School should have detected years earlier.” 

The young woman and her family contacted police in October of 2018 and less than 24 hours later, Cesanek was arrested and charged.

“As outlined in the complaint, this case involves years of alleged sexual abuse by a teacher and repeated failures by school officials to intervene despite clear warning signs. Schools are entrusted with children’s safety, and when that trust is broken, the consequences can be life-altering,” an attorney for the victim said in a statement to PEOPLE.

“Our courageous client came forward to hold the school district accountable for systemic failures in protecting her and push changes within the district to prevent this from occurring again.”

The Lenape Lenape Regional High School District did not respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.

Cesanek was unable to be reached as phone numbers for him were out of service.