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Angela Stellwag
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Judge refuses to dismiss charges in sex case
By MIKE MATHIS
Burlington County Times
MOUNT HOLLY — A judge yesterday refused to dismiss charges against a
former substitute teacher in the Riverside school district who
prosecutors allege engaged in a sexual relationship with a 14-year-old
male student.
Angela Stellwag, 27, of Main Street in Delran is charged with four
counts of sexual assault and one count of endangering the welfare of a
child. She has pleaded innocent.
Defense attorney John Sitzler yesterday asked Superior Court Judge
John A. Almeida to dismiss the charges against Stellwag, arguing that
the indictment returned by a county grand jury does not provide
specific dates for when the alleged sex acts occurred and refers
instead to a time frame of roughly three months.
Sitzler said the absence of exact dates makes it difficult for him to
develop an alibi defense for Stellwag.
Michael Luciano, an assistant Burlington County prosecutor, said the
law does not require that the indictment include specific dates.
“The time frame is tight enough,” Luciano said.
Sitzler said after the hearing that Stellwag maintains her innocence.
Prosecutors have offered Stellwag a five-year prison term in exchange
for a guilty plea. Stellwag faces up to 45 years in prison if
convicted of all charges.
A trial has not been scheduled, but it likely will be conducted next
year.
“The only way she can be exonerated is to go to trial,” Sitzler said.
Almeida scheduled the next hearing in the case for Feb. 25.
Prosecutors said the assaults occurred between July 4, 2004, and Sept.
30, 2004, at Stellwag's home and in her car at several locations in
Edgewater Park.
Stellwag met the student, who is now 17, in 2003 while working as a
substitute teacher at Beverly City Elementary School, prosecutors
said.
They maintained a social relationship through July 2004, when the
relationship became sexual, according to prosecutors.
Authorities have declined to identify the student or release any
information about the boy.
The Burlington County Times is withholding the student's name because
of his age.
Stellwag was hired as a substitute teach-er by the Riverside School
District in October 2004. School officials removed her from her job in
February 2005 after questions were raised about her relationship with
the student.
Stellwag is a 1998 graduate of Delran High School and the daughter of
Delran Mayor Joseph Stellwag.
She is free on $20,000 bail.
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