Greenport teacher's aide charged in rape of boy

BY JENNIFER MALONEY | jennifer.maloney@newsday.com

10:58 PM EST, February 24, 2008

A Greenport Elementary School teacher's aide was arrested for raping and serving alcohol to 15-year-old boy in a Riverhead hotel room, Suffolk police said.

Police said they arrested Maria R. Commins, 39, of Cedarfields Drive in Greenport, on Friday at 4 p.m. after a tip from a private investigator hired by her husband that the pair was at the hotel, police said.

The boy is a friend of Commins' son, and both the woman and the victim told police that they were in love, police said. Police said the pair also had had sexual contact at least once in Commins' Ford Taurus.

Commins was held Friday night at the Riverhead police department and was released on bail Saturday morning. No one answered the door at her Greenport home Sunday, and a phone number for her could not be found.

Greenport schools Superintendent Charles Kozora said Commins, who he said worked for the district for five or six years, voluntarily gave him a letter of resignation Sunday.

"She was a wonderful person, a wonderful employee and a delightful mother of three children in our school district," Kozora said, adding that Commins had never been disciplined by the district. "One of her special qualities is that she's bilingual and she was shifted around through many rooms because she was very talented."

Police said Sunday that the private investigator reported to Riverhead police Friday afternoon that Commins and the victim had checked into the hotel. A uniformed officer arrived and knocked on the door, and after a few minutes they let the officer in, police said.

According to Riverhead police Det. Robert Boden, Commins told the officer that "she'd picked him up, bought some beer, checked into the Holiday Inn Express had sexual relations twice."

The boy, an eighth-grader at Greenport High, gave a similar statement to police, Boden said. The boy, whose name was not released because of the nature of the charges, was taken to Peconic Bay Medical Center and released to his father.

Police are investigating previous encounters when Commins may have driven the boy to remote areas in Greenport or Southold, Boden said.

Commins is charged with third-degree rape, endangering the welfare of a child and unlawfully dealing with a child.

Neighbors Sunday said they were shocked and called her a devoted mother who was very involved in her children's schools.

Staff writers Christine Armario and Reid J. Epstein contributed to this story.