4th Student Sues Long Branch Teacher Convicted Of Sex Assault

LONG BRANCH, NJ — A fourth young woman has now filed a civil lawsuit against a former Long Branch elementary schoolteacher convicted of sexually molesting her when she was 9 or 10.

The man is Gustavo Barrientos, 53, who lived on Palomino Place in Tinton Falls.

In March 2024, he was found guilty by a Monmouth County jury of two counts of child endangerment, after he pleaded guilty to six other related crimes, including first-degree aggravated sex assault and sex assault. He is currently serving a total of 17 years in prison.

This latest lawsuit was filed Jan. 8 in Monmouth County Superior court: The woman, now a teen, said the molestation occurred when Barrientos was her homeroom teacher and her math teacher at George L. Catrambone Elementary school in Long Branch. He was also her after-school reading tutor.

Barrientos worked as a fourth- and fifth-grade teacher at George L. Catrambone, where he was convicted of molesting four girls total, all 9 or 10 at the time.

The young woman alleges that from Feb. 1, 2017 through Sept. 5, 2018, Barrientos "repeatedly subjected her to a continuing course of sexual abuse," including digital penetration, hugging her, putting his hand under her skit and rubbing her thighs, kissing her and showing her pornographic material.

All of these encounters took place in the classroom, she said.

The woman also said Barrientos told her he would instruct her on how to kiss better, saying "who better to teach you than a teacher."

Last year, three other victims of Barrientos similarly filed civil suits against Barrientos and the Long Branch school district. All four girls are now teens under the age of 18.

Barrientos was first arrested on Feb. 14, 2021 after he showed one of the girls pornography in the classroom. That 10-year-old girl was the first to report the sex abuse to police and then, as the Monmouth County Prosecutor investigated, three more child victims were found.

The girls say Barrientos touched them inappropriately in the classroom, and on field trips. Several of the girls said Barrientos showed them pornography in class. The teenagers say this happened over a two-year period, from 2017 to 2019. At one point, Barrientos also worked at Red Bank Charter School, however police have not accused him of any crimes there.

All four young women are represented by the same attorney, Zlata Rudikh of Rudikh & Associates in Old Bridge. All four women argue school officials should have known Barrientos was a threat. Rudikh also argues that the Long Branch school district violated the four girls' Fourth and Fourteenth Amendment rights, because he argues their rights to liberty and privacy were violated. She also said they were discriminated against because of their gender and sex under New Jersey's Law Against Discrimination, and that the Long Branch School district violated Title IX.

Prior Patch reports on Gustavo Barrientos: 3 Former Elementary Students Sue Long Branch Teacher For Molestation (2024)

Tinton Falls Man Indicted On Child Molestation Charges (2022)

Long Branch Elementary Teacher Accused Of Molesting More Children (2021)