A Bronx high-school teacher’s clandestine campaign to bad-mouth a female assistant principal who rebuffed his sexual advances ended yesterday with the teacher pummeling the man who exposed his sick behavior, authorities said.
Cops arrested Richard Pero, 60, of the Westchester town of Pleasantville, and charged him with felony assault after he allegedly ambushed fellow teacher Richard Aloia in a stairwell at John F. Kennedy HS and punched him in the face shortly after 10 a.m.
Police and education sources said Pero was furious with Aloia for informing their female assistant principal, Anastasia Tavarez, that Pero was behind a string of e-mails smearing her that were sent to staffers at the school under the name of a third teacher. The missives were apparently dispatched as payback to Tavarez, 41, for rebuffing Pero’s earlier unwanted romantic advances, including asking her out on dates and offering her flowers, police sources said.
Education officials said police officers had visited the school twice this year to question Pero about his alleged sexual overtures.
Police sources said there had been tension between Pero and Aloia since March after Pero allegedly tried unsuccessfully to recruit Aloia to join his smear campaign against Tavarez.
The rift exploded yesterday morning as the pair chanced upon each other alone in the school stairwell between the third and fourth floors. After a brief verbal exchange, Pero slapped Aloia in the face and then unloaded with a punch that left his victim “in severe pain,” police said.
Aloia reported the altercation to his superiors, who called police. Pero was arrested by cops from the 50th Precinct and charged with second-degree assault.
City Department of Education spokesman Keith Kalb said Pero, a special-education teacher who earns $81,232 a year and was days away from retirement, was reassigned to a regional office pending the outcome of a criminal investigation. If convicted, Pero could face up to seven years in prison.
Neither Tavarez nor Pero – who police sources said is married – returned phone calls for comment. Attempts to reach Aloia were unsuccessful.
Additional reporting by Philip Messing and John Doyle