By James Quirk
The Record
December 21, 2011
http://www.northjersey.com/news/crime_courts/2_indicted_for_sex_with_students_on_school_trip.html
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| Artur Sopel, left, and Michael Sumulikoski. |
A grand jury indicted two former Paramus Catholic High School employees Wednesday on 25 counts of engaging in illegal sexual behavior with four female students — three of them during a school exchange trip to Germany early this year, the Bergen County Prosecutor's Office said.
Artur Sopel, who was the school's vice president of operations, and Michael Sumulikoski, who was a substitute teacher and assistant football coach, were arrested April 5 after a monthlong investigation by the Prosecutor's Office into allegations that they engaged in inappropriate sexual conduct with teenage students while on a 10-day exchange trip to Germany and Belgium that began Feb. 17.
Sopel, 31, of River Edge, is accused of engaging in sexual activity with two female students during the trip. Sumulikoski, 27, of Elmwood Park, is accused of engaging in sexual activity with one of the female students during the trip abroad.
The initial allegations were reported to the New Jersey Division of Children and Families Institutional Abuse Unit, which contacted the prosecutor's Sex Crimes and Child Abuse Unit and sparked the investigation. A fourth female victim then came forward and claimed she had engaged in sexual activities with Sopel in May 2010, when she was a student at the school, Prosecutor John Molinelli said in a press release.
"It was also reported that Sopel had implored two of the victims to withhold cooperation during the investigation," the release states.
Sopel and Sumulikoski pleaded not guilty in Central Municipal Court in Hackensack on April 6. They did not speak at the hearing, and no family members attended.
The indictment, released by the Bergen County Grand Jury, charges Sopel with five counts of endangering the welfare of a child and 12 counts of sexual assault. These are second-degree crimes each carrying a maximum term of 10 years in prison, according to the release. Sopel is also charged with two counts of witness tampering, a third-degree crime carrying a maximum term of five years, the release states.
The indictment charges Sumulikoski with three counts of endangering the welfare of a child and three counts of sexual assault.
Law enforcement officials have not released the ages of the girls, although the officials have said all were under 18 at the time of the alleged incidents.
Sopel is free on $225,000 bail; Sumulikoski is free on $50,000 bail. Both were ordered by Judge Donal Venezia to surrender their passports and were told to have no contact with the victims, according to the Prosecutor's Office.
Both men were suspended without pay indefinitely by the Archdiocese of Newark in March after church officials learned about the investigation. A letter sent to parents in April and signed by Paramus Catholic Principal Joseph P. Agostino and James P. Vail, its president, identified Sopel and Sumulikoski as "former staff members."
Vail said when reached Wednesday that it was the first he had heard of the indictment.
"I have to process this before I make any comment," he said.
Vail added that Sopel and Sumulikoski last worked at the school March 15.
Sopel had worked at the school for a little more than two years, and Sumulikoski was in his first year. Both men are graduates of Paramus Catholic. Sumulikoski, who graduated in 2001, played football at the school and coached the team's wide receivers and quarterbacks prior to the onset of the investigation.
The archdiocese became aware of the allegations in March and began cooperating with the Prosecutor's Office immediately, James Goodness, a spokesman for the archdiocese, told The Record in April.
"We're hopeful this whole matter will be concluded soon for everyone's benefit," Goodness said Wednesday. "The school is a very strong school and a strong community. Everyone involved – faculty, staff, students, parents – they all knew and continue to recognize that this is not what the school is about."
The sex scandal does not appear to have damaged enrollment at Paramus Catholic High School. Goodness said registration for the next school year is high. About 1,500 students from Bergen, Passaic, Essex, Hudson and Rockland counties attend the school, he said.
Attorneys for Sopel and Sumulikoski continued to assert their clients' innocence Wednesday, and reiterated arguments that New Jersey does not have jurisdiction over alleged crimes that took place overseas.
Robert Galantucci, Sumulikoski's attorney, said that the question of jurisdiction is the first matter that the court must address in this case and added that Sumulikoski "absolutely looks forward to his day in court."
"My client denies that anything took place," said Raymond Flood, Sopel's attorney. "But before we even get to that, we have a real serious jurisdiction issue, and that certainly will be one of the issues that needs to be decided. A crime has to be committed within the jurisdiction of this court. The jurisdiction of this court doesn't extend to Germany or Belgium or anywhere else outside the United States."
In an e-mail, County Prosecutor John Molinelli disagreed.
"While we acknowledge that the court will have to decide legal issues of jurisdiction, my belief is that the indictment is warranted and justified," he said.
An arraignment date for this case has not yet been set.
Contact: quirk@northjersey.com
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