NEW BRUNSWICK — A former Perth Amboy middle school teacher was sentenced last week to serve 20 years in a New Jersey state prison for sexually assaulting a female student over a five-year period, beginning when she was 13 years old, Middlesex County Prosecutor Bruce J. Kaplan announced.
Guillermo Santamaria, also known as William Santamaria, 59, of Perth Amboy, also was required to register as a Megan’s Law offender and will be placed on parole supervision for life when he is released from custody.
The sentence was imposed during a hearing at the Middlesex County Courthouse before Superior Court Judge Dennis Nieves.
Santamaria was found guilty on May 7 of aggravated sexual assault, two counts of sexual assault, and two counts of official misconduct, including a charge that he had sex with the student on school property after she turned 18 years old.
A jury deliberated about two hours in New Brunswick before finding the defendant guilty of all five counts.
Following the conviction, the judge revoked Santamaria’s $250,000 bail and remanded him to the Middlesex County Adult Correction Center in North Brunswick, where he has been held while awaiting sentencing.
During a five-day trial that began on April 24, Middlesex County Assistant Prosecutor Lynn Pilone presented evidence and testimony showing that Santamaria, a social studies teacher for 16 years in Perth Amboy, sexually assaulted the girl on numerous occasions in Perth Amboy from the fall of 1997 up to the victim’s 18th birthday in 2002.
An investigation by Michael Daniewicz and David Carmen, both investigators for the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office, determined that the victim was a student in Perth Amboy at the time of the offenses.
The investigation began after the victim contacted the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office in April 2010.
