Cherry Hill Schools Facing 6 Lawsuits Over Ex-Teacher's Sexual Abuse

Editor's note: This article contains descriptions of sexual abuse. Reader discretion is advised.

CHERRY HILL, NJ — The Cherry Hill School District failed to protect students from a former teacher's sexual abuse several decades ago, according to six different lawsuits against the school system.

The lawsuits accuse the district and Cherry Hill Board of Education of failing to discipline Otto Becken, who taught at Cherry Hill schools from 1970-85.

All six lawsuits, including four filed this week, were brought by attorneys representing former students who say Becken sexually abused them. Legal proceedings remain underway for the first two complaints, which were filed in 2023.

Becken taught sixth grade at James F. Cooper Elementary School, according to the complaints filed this week. On several occasions from 1979-83, Becken sexually assaulted male students at the school and during a weeklong overnight trip to Pinelands at Mt. Misery — an overnight camp — according to the lawsuits.

The acts of sexual abuse included anal penetration, oral contact, fondling of genitals and inappropriate contact, the lawsuits say.

The victims were 11 and 12 years old at the time, according to attorneys Jeffrey P. Fritz and Derek Braslow, who are representing the plaintiffs.

A spokesperson for the district did not respond to Patch's request for comment in time for initial publication.

In March 1984, Becken was charged with sexually assaulting two of his students during a lunchtime remedial-reading program that school year. After it was reported to police, the district allowed Becken to resign instead of being fired, the lawsuits say.

He voluntarily resigned that November under a settlement reached with the district, according to the complaints.

Becken pleaded guilty in 1985 to three counts of sexual assault. His criminal sentencing wasn't immediately available in online court records.

Becken died in 2011 in Pennsylvania.

While employed at Cooper Elementary, Becken had a "reputation amongst staff for acting inappropriately with male students," one lawsuit says. But Becken didn't face repercussions for his actions, and district officials failed to make mandatory reports of known or suspected child abuse to the state's child-welfare agency, according to the complaint.

The former students' attorneys claim the district became aware of Becken's inappropriate conduct by 1977, when a student reported him to school leadership for making vulgar comments in class.

Cooper's then-principal advised Becken to draw a line between himself as a teacher and his students. But the lack of discipline "empowered and emboldened" Becken to continue his sexually abusive conduct, a lawsuit says.

Over the next few years, Becken repeatedly ate lunch alone with male students in his classroom, had them regularly sit on his lap, touched them, lifted up their shirts and spent an "inordinate and inappropriate" amount of time with them, one complaint states.

Faculty members and administrators witnessed some of the sexual misconduct but did nothing to stop Becken, according to the complaints.

As a result, the plaintiffs suffered "years of trauma and long-term psychological harm," their attorneys said in a joint statement.

The lawsuits were filed under the state's Child Victims Act, a 2019 law that extends the statute of limitation for filing lawsuits alleging child sexual abuse.

The law allowed Chuck Wicker, a former student, to file his lawsuit in 2023.

"Like so may others, it took me a while to come forward," Wicker, now 54, said in a news release. "But it will have been worth it if it will help protect children in New Jersey."