Former Cohoes High School teacher Drake Galarneau appears Thursday before acting state Supreme Court Justice Roger D. McDonough for an arraignment in Albany County Court on charges that accuse him of raping an underage student. The 36-year-old teacher resigned from Cohoes High School last month while State Police investigated the allegations. He pleaded not guilty. (Will Waldron/Times Union)
Will Waldron/Times Union
Former Cohoes High School teacher Drake Galarneau at his arraignment on rape charges in Albany County Court Thursday. (Will Waldron/Times Union)
Will Waldron/Times Union
Acting state Supreme Court Justice Roger D. McDonough reads an indictment against former Cohoes High School teacher Drake Galarneau on Thursday in Albany County Court. Galarneau became the focus of a rape investigation by State Police after someone filed a complaint with the Cohoes High School principal on March 24. (Will Waldron/Times Union)
Will Waldron/Times Union
Former Cohoes High School teacher Drake Galarneau appears before acting state Supreme Court Justice Roger D. McDonough with his attorney, Joel Abelove, left, for an arraignment on charges that accuse him of raping an underage student. The former ninth-grade English teacher pleaded not guilty. (Will Waldron/Times Union)
Will Waldron/Times Union
Albany County Assistant District Attorney Alyssa Congdon asked acting state Supreme Court Justice Roger D. McDonough to keep Drake Galarneau in jail without bail during an arraignment Thursday. The judge ordered him released on $50,000 bail. (Will Waldron/Times Union)
Will Waldron/Times Union
Attorney Joel Abelove speaks to reporters following the arraignment of his client, former Cohoes High School teacher Drake Galarneau. (Will Waldron/Times Union)
Will Waldron/Times UnionAlbany County Correctional Facility
Drake Galarneau’s attorney, Joel Abelove, fills out paperwork in Albany County Court, where Galarneau was arraigned Thursday morning on charges of third-degree rape and child endangerment.
Will Waldron / Times Union
A Cohoes High School teacher who resigned as the State Police investigated allegations he was involved in an inappropriate relationship with a student was arrested late Wednesday.
Will Waldron/Times Union
COHOES — A 36-year-old teacher who resigned from Cohoes High School while State Police investigated allegations that he was involved in an inappropriate relationship with a student was arraigned Thursday morning on rape and other criminal charges.
Drake A. Galarneau, who had been a ninth-grade English teacher, pleaded not guilty in Albany County Court to eight counts of third-degree rape and one misdemeanor count of endangering the welfare of a child. He was arraigned by acting state Supreme Court Justice Roger McDonough, who often presides over criminal cases in County Court and unsealed the indictment the day after Galarneau was arrested.
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Galarneau was released on $50,000 bail and placed under the supervision of the county probation department. McDonough also set a 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew, which Galarneau told the judge he “should” be able to follow. He later apologized for speaking when the judge was talking to his attorney, former Rensselaer County District Attorney Joel Abelove.
“The conditions of that are nonnegotiable,” McDonough told Galarneau. “I’m assuming it was just a manner of speaking when you said you should be able to abide by that curfew. You will abide by that curfew.”
Third-degree rape, a low-level felony, involves having sexual intercourse with a person who is under 17 and therefore incapable of consent. The female student is now 17 years old, according to law enforcement sources.
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It’s not clear how long Galarneau was a teacher or the timeline of the allegations.
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Late last week, Cohoes City School District Superintendent Peggy O’Shea sent a message to parents and guardians of students saying a teacher was no longer employed by the district and that the administration “immediately contacted” State Police, where Galarneau’s father-in-law, Cohoes Mayor Bill Keeler, once held a top leadership role as a major with Troop G.
School district officials accepted Galarneau’s resignation on March 26.
In a second message to the district’s families that O’Shea sent Tuesday — and also posted on the district’s website — she confirmed that Galarneau had been arrested and said that the high school principal, Laura Tarlo, had received a report on March 24 “alleging unspecified inappropriate behaviors by Mr. Galarneau toward a student.”
“Dr. Tarlo immediately notified me and made a report to the New York State Police,” O’Shea wrote. “That same evening, Mr. Galarneau was placed on leave and prohibited from being on school grounds. He submitted his resignation (March 25).”
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In court Thursday, Galarneau told McDonough that he recently got a job with a landscaping firm. Under the terms of his release, he’s required to remain employed and stay away from the alleged victim.
Assistant District Attorney Alyssa Congdon argued that Galarneau should remain in the Albany County jail, given the seriousness of his charges. A conviction on all nine counts could result in a sentence of up to 32 years in prison, she said.
But Abelove countered that as a potential first-time offender, a lifelong Cohoes resident and the son-in-law of Keeler, Galarneau is not a flight risk. Abelove noted Galarneau has been aware of his potential arrest — he was interviewed by State Police investigators last week.
“He’s been cooperative throughout this process,” Abelove told reporters after the arraignment. “I offered to turn him in if it was going to come to that, so he wasn’t going anywhere. Pretty sure that made an impression on the court.”
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The case comes a year after former Cohoes High School teacher aide Alexsandra Morales was charged with two misdemeanor counts for having sex with a 15-year-old student multiple times during her tenure with the district. The female aide, not quite four years his senior, was charged again in July with criminal contempt after being seen with the teenager in her car.
Morales is scheduled to be sentenced April 15 in Cohoes City Court after pleading guilty to sexual misconduct and criminal contempt in February, according to the Albany County District Attorney’s Office. Under a proposed plea deal, if Morales completes five years of probation without any violations, she would be allowed to withdraw the plea and plead to endangering the welfare of a child. She would be sentenced to three years of probation with credit for any time served and face no requirement that she register as a sex offender. Violations of the terms of her probation could mean mandatory registration as a sex offender and up to two years in jail.
Galarneau did not reply to an email sent earlier this week by the Times Union.
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