Syosset Teacher Acquitted of Child Endangerment

Former Syosset teacher Ian Edrich was acquitted on Tuesday, two years after he was arrested and charged with child endangerment,  the Nassau County District Attorney's Office confirmed.

Edrich, a former teacher, was arrested in January 2010 after allegedly making inappropriate comments to a 13-year-old male student.

"It's a travesty... It's sad that a man's career was destroyed," said Edrich's attorney Tom Lavallee, who described the "arrest first, investigate later" tactics of police and the quick suspension of Edrich's employment by the school district as wholly unjust.

According to Lavallee, more than a dozen former students and their parents attended in support of their former teacher. 

Edrich's arrest came after the mother of one of his students discovered a journal kept between Edrich and her son. Edrich allegedly chose this student as his "favorite" and in developing a relationship, made inappropriate sexual comments to him. Police arrested him in January 2010 and charged him with child endangerment.

's personnel department confirmed that Edrich is no longer a district employee, but did not comment on the outcome of the case.

The Syosset Teachers' Association declined to comment.

It is not clear at this time whether or not Edrich will initiate the process of being reinstated as a Syosset employee.