A Queens jury yesterday acquitted a Catholic school teacher of charges that he seduced a 15-year-old student he was tutoring in math, then kissed and touched her inside a darkened classroom.
The six-member misdemeanor panel took less than half a day to find the teacher, Francis Catapano, 62, not guilty of sexual abuse and child endangerment.
“I just could not believe the charges were being made,” Catapano said outside the courtroom. “I was a teacher for 40 years.”
The former teacher at Resurrection Ascension School in Middle Village was arrested nearly three years ago after the girl’s mother uncovered evidence of a relationship in an intercepted e-mail.
During the weeklong trial, the girl, whose name is being withheld by The Post, testified that Catapano fondled her and touched her genitals. Prosecutors also played a recording of a telephone conversation in which the tearful girl begs Catapano to tell her what’s going on in their relationship. In his testimony, Catapano denied touching the girl and said he was drowsy with stress-relieving medication during the phone conversation.