A teacher at Charlton Middle School has been placed on paid administrative leave after his arrest earlier this month, as he faces serious charges including aggravated rape, according to officials in Worcester County.
Todd Peloquin, who the Worcester Telegram and Gazette reports is an English teacher at the school, was arrested by the Leicester Police Department on March 9 and faces a number of charges, including incest, aggravated rape, two counts of indecent assault and battery on a child under 14, and one count of indecent assault and battery on a child over 14.
"Law enforcement officials have stated that the charges against Mr. Peloquin are not at all related to the school district and do not involve any of our students or staff," a letter from Dudley-Charlton Regional School District Superintendent Stephen Lamarche said. "We take all allegations of misconduct very seriously and act swiftly and thoroughly in compliance with School Committee policy and state and local laws."
Peloquin was arraigned in East Brookfield District Court on March 10, and his bail was set at $2,500, according to the Worcester County District Attorney's Office. He was ordered to stay away from the alleged victim, have no unsupervised contact with children under 16, to surrender his passport, to be on GPS monitoring and to not leave the state.
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"As always, the health and safety of Dudley-Charlton Regional School students and staff remain our top priority," a statement from the district's superintendent said. "We support the work of our law enforcement agencies."
The case was continued to May 16.
