Park Slope Piano Teacher Who Sexually Abused Child Sentenced: DA

PARK SLOPE, BROOKLYN — A Brooklyn man who groomed and sexually abused a young girl whom he gave piano lessons will spend the next seven years in prison, prosecutors said.

John Stewart Russell, 62, will have to register as a sex offender after he serves the sentence imposed by a Brooklyn judge Thursday, authorities said.

"This defendant exploited his position of trust to prey on a young child, which is an unconscionable betrayal," said Eric Gonzalez, district attorney for Brooklyn, in a statement.

"After starting a friendship with this family, he sexually abused the child beginning when she was just 9 years old."

Russell was arrested in July 2020 after a young girl told her parents that he sexually abused her, prosecutors said.

Investigators found Russell befriended the girl's family in summer 2016, and covertly began grooming her about the same time, authorities said.

He started giving the then-9-year-old girl piano lessons in November that year, which is when he began repeatedly groping her and subjecting her to various sexual acts, a release from the Brooklyn district attorney's office states.

Even after the piano lessons ended, Russell continued the abuse.

Russell eventually pleaded guilty in January this year to second-degree course of sexual conduct against a child and endangering the welfare of a child.