As many as four additional youths have joined three other boys in accusing a Bronx math teacher of sexual abuse, The Post has learned.
The Bronx DA’s Office said it is interviewing two teens, 15 and 16, who came forward Friday to claim they were victims of Gary Coleman, a teacher at Middle School 158 who coached after-school basketball at a local community center.
“We are aware of additional allegations, and we are looking into them,” said DA spokesman Steven Reed.
Meanwhile, a personal-injury lawyer for three boys, ages 12 to 14, who came forward on June 6 claiming Coleman sodomized them in a school classroom says he now represents two other boys, in the same age bracket, who are also alleging sexual abuse by the 30-year veteran teacher who also ran youth and teen summer-camp programs.
Accusations that the unmarried Coleman, 51, gave $100 to at least two youths so he could perform oral sex on them in a classroom at MS 158, in the Morrisania section of the South Bronx, have caused a sharp rift.
Aaron Broder, the lawyer for five alleged victims, charged that Coleman used the basketball teams he coached in the school and neighborhood to “manipulate” students.
“They were given bait – being on the team – and were reeled in,” said Broder, who plans to file a claim for damages with the Department of Education.
But lawyer John H. Wilson, who represents Coleman, said the teacher denies abusing any child. He said the complaints emerged after the teacher kicked a troublemaking student out of his math class.
Other youths are “jumping on the bandwagon because there might be money involved [in a lawsuit],” Wilson said. “I don’t think they’re victims of anything but their own greed.”
Wilson described MS 158 as “a zoo,” where Coleman tried to impose good manners. He said Coleman used his basketball teams as an enticement to kids to get good grades and clean up their language.
“He wasn’t trying to pick out kids to have sex with. He was trying to be a disciplinarian and get these kids to improve their behavior,” Wilson said. Under Tracy Collins, who became principal of the school last March, MS 158 has been undergoing an overhaul in hopes of being taken off the list of the state’s worst schools – and to reverse an atmosphere in which some at the school say kids rule.
Coleman returns to court tomorrow. He was released on $7,500 bail after his arraignment last Wednesday.