Police: NJ substitute teacher drugged, raped male studentJanuary 16, 2011 A Vineland man who works as a substitute teacher
sexually assaulted an 18-year-old high school student after giving him "two small, round pills" during a post-Christmas party that also featured steady drinking, prosecutors said Friday.
The assault took place in the bed of the teacher, 27-year-old Remarno O. Chambers, who hosted a party at his State Street home Dec. 26, prosecutors allege.
The victim "immediately" lost consciousness after taking the pills, only to awake later as Chambers began to rape him, Cumberland County First Assistant Prosecutor Harold Shapiro said Friday during a bail hearing that offered graphic details of two incidents in which the educator is accused of illegal sexual contact with male teenagers.
The prosecution also divulged Chambers offered one pill to the second alleged victim, who is 17 years old, but the teen did not take the drug.
Chambers molested that victim last May, authorities said.
Shapiro also disclosed detectives confiscated prescription drugs and marijuana when they searched Chambers' house.
After hearing the allegations, Cumberland County Superior Court Judge David Krell lowered Chambers' bail from $250,000 cash to $150,000 cash or bond. The state did not make "a compelling case" for the higher bail figure, Krell said.
The hearing offered the first public look at Chambers since his arrest in Vineland on Jan. 6. Authorities have charged him with aggravated sexual assault and aggravated criminal sexual contact.
Chambers was a substitute teacher at Vineland High School at the time of his arrest, but neither of his accusers attended VHS at the time of the crimes allegedly committed against them.
Defense attorney Wayne Powell said in court Friday that newspaper reports last week about Chambers' arrest in the sexual assault case involving the older teen might have led to the second complaint, suggesting it was unreliable.
Powell also claimed the existence of a witness who was in Chambers' bed the night of the more recent incident and can refute the allegation. He did not identify the witness.
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