Former School Counselor Had Sexual Contact With Student: Cops

FAIR LAWN, NJ - A 53-year-old Fair Lawn woman faces charges after authorities say she engaged in sexual conduct with a student while she was working as a counselor at a Saddle Brook school for children with special needs.

Ellen Terpening was arrested Tuesday following an investigation by the Bergen County Prosecutor's Office Special Victims Unit and the Bergen County Sheriff's Office, and charged with aggravated sexual assault, sexual assault and endangering the welfare of a child, Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella said in a press release.

An investigation was launched earlier this week after authorities received a report earlier this week that Terpening served as the counselor of the student at Brownstone School she had sexual conduct with and that the relationship went on from Sept. 2016 through March 2018, Musella said.

After she left her position at the school, the contact continued at her Third Street home in Fair Lawn, Musella said.

Terpening, a divorced, animal rescue worker, was taken to Bergen County Jail pending her first appearance in court Wednesday, the prosecutor said.

Brownstone School, which is part of the Bergen County Special Services School District, serves children in PreK through 8th grade.