A New York City charter school teacher was charged in December 2021 with sexually abusing a student whom prosecutors alleged he had subjected to inappropriate conduct over several years.

Cesar Sanchez, then a science teacher at KIPP Washington Heights Middle School, was accused of making sexually suggestive comments to the student beginning when she was in fourth grade, according to reports at the time citing a criminal complaint.

Authorities alleged that the conduct later escalated to inappropriate physical contact while the student was in middle school. Prosecutors alleged that the conduct stopped temporarily when classes moved online in March 2020 and resumed after students returned to in-person instruction.

Sanchez was charged with sexual conduct against a child and endangering the welfare of a child.

KIPP NYC terminated Sanchez following the allegations. The organization also said at the time that the school’s principal had been terminated after KIPP determined that its procedures or expectations had not been followed in the handling of the matter. The principal was not charged with a criminal offense in connection with the case.

KIPP is a national network of charter schools that operates schools in New York City.