Ex-OCVTS Performing Arts Teacher Sentenced For Sexual Contact With Student

TOMS RIVER, NJ — A former teacher at the Ocean County Performing Arts Academy has been sentenced to parole supervision for life for his guilty plea to having inappropriate sexual contact with a student, the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office said Friday.

Douglas J. Bollinger, 57, of Neptune City, was sentenced by Superior Court Judge Dina M. Vicari to parole supervision for life for pleading guilty to endangering the welfare of a child, Prosecutor Bradley D. Billhimer said.

Bollinger also will be subject to the terms of Megan’s Law as well as Nicole’s Law, which permanently prohibits him from having any contact with his victim, and he was ordered to permanently forfeit any future public employment and teaching certifications in New Jersey, the prosecutor's office said.

Investigators from the prosecutor’s office Special Victims Unit in the summer of 2024 learned that between February 2019 and August 2019, Bollinger had inappropriate sexual contact with a Performing Arts Academy student at unspecified locations in Point Pleasant Beach and Asbury Park, Billhimer said.

Bollinger was arrested Aug. 15 at his home by the U.S. Marshals Fugitive Task Force, taken to the Ocean County Jail and later released as a consequence of New Jersey bail reform.

He initially was charged with two counts each of endangering the welfare of a child and criminal sexual contact, but the criminal sexual contact charges were dropped as part of the plea agreement.

"Issues in the course of this investigation created challenges in the state’s ability to prove more serious charges against this defendant beyond a reasonable doubt," Billhimer said. " The victim is cognizant of those issues, and is in support of this resolution."

"As part of the resolution in this case, the defendant has been ordered to permanently forfeit his teaching license. Given the nature of the allegations, it was imperative to ensure that Bollinger will never again be in a position of supervisory authority over students," Billhimer said.