Underage teen testifies Columbia Secondary School teacher gave her beer, asked for a kiss during trip to Met
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Published: March 28, 2017
A teen testified Tuesday that her former teacher at Columbia Secondary School invited her to the Metropolitan Museum of Art for booze and improper advances.
The girl, who was 16 at the time, said she “felt a little uncomfortable” when teacher Dean Bethea cozied up to her near a sculpture of a little girl and a dove.
Bethea, 56, bought the girl, now 17, beers at the balcony bar in December 2015 and asked if she “knew why he invited me to the Met that night,” she testified in Manhattan Criminal Court.
“Well, I don’t think anything weird of it because I’m only 16 years old,” she said she told him.
He allegedly ordered more beer and asked if he could kiss her when they left. The girl said Bethea told her he wouldn’t be offended if she “said no.”
“I said no,” she added. They hugged goodbye and she said she’d see him in school.
Bethea is charged with endangering the welfare of a child.