Appeal denied: NJ strips teaching credentials from man who broke into home

The head of education in New Jersey has agreed that a man should no longer be certified to teach in the state, after breaking into a home, stealing jewelry, and selling it.

Daniel DeJesus had appealed a decision from 2020 that his certification as a health and physical education teacher be revoked.

But the ruling will stick, mainly because DeJesus took years to appeal the state's decision.

In July 2018, DeJesus was indicted on charges of burglary, unlawful taking and fencing. Officials say he entered a residence without permission, stole a gold necklace worth $3,000, and sold it on the streets of Perth Amboy.

As a condition of being able to enter a pretrial intervention program, DeJesus pleaded guilty to the burglary charge.

Over the course of several months, according to the Department of Education, the state reached out to DeJesus to inform him of the pending revocation of his teaching credentials, and his options to fight the decision. But officials did not hear back from DeJesus.

On May 14, 2020, the State Board of Examiners officially voted to adopt its decision to take away DeJesus's certificates.

More than three years later, DeJesus's counsel filed an appeal claiming that he had never received any decision or order from the board about revocation of his credentials.

It was also argued that the decision should be appealed because DeJesus completed his intervention without incident, and that the conduct in question did not involve students, nor school property.

Under the appeal decision handed down in January by then-Acting Commissioner Angelica Allen-McMillan, it was found that the appeal was "untimely and can be dismissed on that basis."

Even if the appeal were timely filed, Allen-McMillan said, the Board's decision to revoke DeJesus's certificates is supported by his actions in 2018, which "clearly constitutes conduct unbecoming an educator."

New Jersey 101.5 has reached out to the DOE for information on DeJesus's employment history. Documents from the state do not indicate when DeJesus last worked for a public school district or where he was employed.

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