Sexual Assault Charges Dropped Against Music Teacher

Sexual assault charges against a former West Hartford choir director and Newtown schoolteacher were dropped Tuesday in Norwich Superior Court, ending a 13-month case involving a 17-year-old girl in Norwich.

In a prosecution that sparked police inquiries in three towns, John Harned, 33, pleaded guilty to one second-degree Class A misdemeanor charge of violating the terms of his release.

Harned admitted having contact with the teenager in December while free on $75,000 bail and received a nine-month suspended sentence. He also was put on probation for two years and ordered not to initiate contact with the teen, according to his lawyer, Brian Woolf of East Hartford.

Harned was by Norwich police with three counts of second-degree sexual assault. According to police, Harned and the teen allegedly were sexually involved for three months during a production at the Spirit of Broadway Theater in Norwich. Harned .

“The original charges against Mr. Harned were inappropriate,” Woolf said. “Clearly he had no supervisory authority over her. He was not a teacher in a school or a coach in a school.”

Harned, formerly of 133 Walden St. in West Hartford, was charged under a law that prohibits adults in authority, such as a teacher or coach, to engage in sex with individuals younger than 18. Norwich police said Harned was the teen’s singing coach.

Woolf argued that a teacher-student relationship never existed.

“The allegations against Mr. Harned, although some may have thought their age difference may have been inappropriate, it was certainly not illegal,” Woolf said. “His actions did not fall under the purview of the statutory requirement.”

In West Hartford, Harned was and music teacher, according to parents and professionals in the music community. He led the choir from 2008 to early 2010.

Harned was a choral teacher at Newtown High School for five years before resigning in June 2010 after he was placed on paid administrative leave. A group of Newtown parents reportedly raised suspicions about an inappropriate relationship with a female student in an unsigned letter to school administrators.

According to Woolf, Harned was offered a job in a West Hartford school before his arrest.

“This was very costly to him,” Woolf said. “He had some other very good job offers that were withdrawn when they found out about it. The man is very talented.”

Harned, a guest conductor at the 2009 Berkshire League Music Festival, was nominated for two Connecticut High School Music Theater Awards in 2010.

He was divorced in July, according to court records.