KHS student, 17, charged with sex crimes, HCPO says

A 17-year-old Kearny High School student has been arrested on sex-crime charges after he allegedly sexually assaulted a girl while on campus at the high school, Esther Suarez, Hudson County prosecutor, said.

Suarez said the Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office Special Victims Unit, which is handling the investigation, believe two incidents occurred inside the school during the current school year. Authorities were first notified of the offenses Tuesday, Jan. 18, 2022.

The 17-year-old has been charged with two counts of criminal-sexual contact, he was taken into custody at the Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office in Jersey City Monday, Jan. 31, 2022 and he was released to a legal guardian, pending his first court appearance.

Because there is an ongoing investigation, Superintendent of Schools Patricia Blood said she was unable to comment on the matter.

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Kevin A. Canessa Jr. is the editor of and broadcaster at The Observer, a place where he has served on and off since 2006. He is responsible for the editorial content of the newspaper and website, the production of the e-Newspaper, writing several stories per week (including the weekly editorial), conducting live broadcasts on Facebook Live, including a weekly recap of the news — and much more behind the scenes. Between 2006 and 2008, he introduced the newspaper to its first-ever blog — which included podcasts, audio and video. Originally from Jersey City, Kevin lived in Kearny until 2004, lived in Port St. Lucie. Florida, for four years until February 2016 and in March of that year, he moved back to West Hudson to return to The Observer full time. Click Here to send Kevin an email.