Middletown Coach Accused Of Sex Assault Quit, Not Eligible For Pension

MIDDLETOWN, NJ — The Middletown High School North girls’ basketball coach accused of engaging in a sexual relationship with a teenage female student has resigned from the school district, Middletown schools superintendent Jessica Alfone said Wednesday.

The coach is Justin McGhee, 35, an Ocean Township resident. He was arrested in January and charged with second-degree sexual assault and child endangerment. McGhee was also a health/gym teacher and an assistant football coach at Middletown North.

Since he quit, McGhee no longer receives health benefits from the Middletown school district, and he does not have the age or years of service to be eligible for a pension, said Alfone.

Alfone said she wanted to release the accurate information after "the purported news media website shorenewsnetwork.com published a patently false article entitled 'Middletown teacher who had sex with student allowed to resign with pension, health benefits,'" on March 3.

"The article was clearly intended to attack the district under the guise of being a credible media outlet," said the school superintendent. "If Shore News Network exercised even a scintilla of journalism standards, it would have published the easily accessible fact that upon resigning, Mr. McGhee no longer receives district-provided health benefits. Moreover, he does not have the age or years of service to be eligible for a pension. Further, any effort to act as real media rather than the politically-motivated attack engine of certain individuals would have also discovered that Mr. McGhee will face license revocation proceedings before the New Jersey State Board of Examiners," said Alfone.

Alfone said she, as superintendent, decided to accept McGhee's resignation inside of pursuing tenure charges against him because that "saves the district the expense of pursuing tenure charges and immediately suspends the benefits. Had the district moved forward with tenure charges, benefits would have remained in place during the lengthy proceedings."

It can take months, if not longer, for tenure charges to be resolved.

"The (Middletown school) district will not tolerate patently false 'reporting' intended to paint the district in a false light," said Alfone Wednesday.

The city of Toms River pays ShoreNewsNetwork to publish press releases for them. At the Feb. 26 Toms River council meeting, the council approved an invoice for $7,332, for Shore Media and Marketing, owned by Phil Stilton, the owner and publisher of Shore News Network. Dan Rodrick is the mayor of Toms River and he is the Thorne Middle School teacher the Middletown school district is currently pursuing tenure charges against.

The illegal sexual relationship between McGhee and the student began in late 2024, said the Monmouth County Prosecutor. The female victim was under 18.

Anyone with information about McGhee’s alleged activities is urged to contact MCPO Detective David Sidorakis at 800-533-7443 or Middletown Township Police Department Detective Ricardo Cruz at 732-615-2120.

First report: Middletown North Basketball Coach Charged With Sex Assault Of Student (Jan. 29)

Related: Tenure Charges Filed Against Toms River Mayor By Middletown Schools (Feb. 19)