{"id":219583,"date":"2026-05-04T18:55:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-04T18:55:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/219583\/"},"modified":"2026-05-04T18:55:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-04T18:55:08","slug":"queens-principal-could-see-sexual-abuse-charges-dropped-under-deal-with-prosecutors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/219583\/","title":{"rendered":"Queens principal could see sexual abuse charges dropped under deal with prosecutors"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Queens principal charged with sexually harassing and groping two staffers has reached a deal with prosecutors that will let him walk away without criminal charges on his record, outraging some of his accusers.<\/p>\n

Principal William Bassell\u2019s behavior was so widely known at the Academy of American Studies that colleagues nicknamed him \u201cCreepy Bill,\u201d according to a lawsuit.<\/p>\n

On Thursday, Bassell agreed to a deal with the Queens District Attorney\u2019s office that charges of sexual abuse and forcible touching will be dropped if he resigns and completes a sex offender treatment program.<\/p>\n

Queens DA spokesperson Brendan Brosh said prosecutors had agreed to the deal after a review of the facts and conversations with the alleged victims. \u201cIf the defendant fails to complete the required treatment in full, he will face trial. We thank the complainants for coming forward, which allowed for the just resolution of this case,\u201d Brosh said.<\/p>\n

Bassell\u2019s attorney declined to comment.<\/p>\n

Bassell still faces a civil lawsuit<\/a> brought by five women \u2014 including a student \u2014 who allege he used his position \u201cto sexually harass, degrade, and assault female staff and students\u201d for more than a decade.<\/p>\n

Former student Khiabet Leal alleged Bassell sexually assaulted her during a field trip to the Metropolitan Opera when she was just 16, a junior.<\/p>\n

She had a migraine and left the theater to sit in the lobby, the lawsuit says, when Bassell sat beside her, reached under her skirt, and groped her thigh for several minutes. According to the lawsuit, Leal reported the incident to teachers and a counselor, who reported it to a \u201cDOE office,\u201d according to the lawsuit, but nothing appeared to come of an investigation.<\/p>\n

Leal said she hopes Bassell is stripped of his pension.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile I am grateful that the defendant is required to resign from the DOE\u2026 the idea that NYC taxpayers would foot the bill for Bassell\u2019s pension makes my blood boil,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Representatives of the union, the Council of School Supervisors and Administrators (CSA), did not respond to questions about the status of Bassell\u2019s pension. The Daily News<\/a> covered Bassell\u2019s case on Saturday.<\/p>\n

The Academy of American Studies is a large high school serving approximately 1,200 students in Long Island City. Bassell had served as principal there for 15 years, and according to the lawsuit, was one of the public school system\u2019s longest-serving principals.<\/p>\n

The civil lawsuit alleges Leal and other women, including an assistant principal, school social worker and counselor, said they made complaints to the education department and their unions starting more than a decade ago, but Bassell was allowed to remain in his position. The lawsuit said subsequent allegations emerged in Instagram posts from an account called \u201cAAS Take A Stand\u201d during the pandemic.<\/p>\n

Last May, Leslie Kohn, a former assistant principal at the school, reported Bassell to the police, prompting his arrest and removal from his post at the school.<\/p>\n

Kohn said in the lawsuit that Bassell groped her weekly for a year, and subjected her to a barrage of sexually explicit text messages that \u201cranged from inappropriate to pornographic.\u201d Kohn said the harassment caused her severe anxiety, forcing her to leave her position.<\/p>\n

Education department spokesperson Chyann Tull said the \u201calleged behavior is reprehensible and wholly unacceptable.\u201d She said Bassell was \u201cimmediately removed from students upon learning of these allegations.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBassell\u2019s removal from the Academy of American Studies and the DOE at large is an important and long overdue first step towards accountability and healing,\u201d said Amy Robinson, attorney for the plaintiffs in the civil suit. \u201cWe\u2019re going to continue to pursue justice in our civil case.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Queens principal charged with sexually harassing and groping two staffers has reached a deal with prosecutors that…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":219584,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[9,24,63,122,124,123],"class_list":["post-219583","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-queens","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-queens","tag-queens-headlines","tag-queens-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/219583","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=219583"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/219583\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/219584"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=219583"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=219583"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=219583"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}