Teacher sentenced to prison for sexually molesting female student during class trip to Hershey

A former New York teacher who pleaded guilty to sexually molesting a 16-year-old student during a class trip to Hershey was sentenced to prison by a Dauphin County judge Thursday.

Judge Richard A. Lewis sentenced Joseph A. Gallagher, 29, of Smithtown, to 9 to 23 months behind bars for the May 2019 incident at a hotel in Swatara Township.

Gallagher, who also was hit with student sex charges in New York, was accompanying students from Bethpage School District on the trip.

Investigators said he began having sexual conversations with the student several months before the trip and had sexual contact with her. Gallagher and the girl texted each other while at the central Pennsylvania hotel and arranged to meet in his room, where they engaged in sex, police said.

They said the teen told officers she tried to wait until her roommates were asleep before leaving to meet Gallagher, but that one saw her departing from the room.

Gallagher was fired from his teaching job in the Bethpage district, which is on Long Island.

His sentencing occurred three months after he pleaded guilty to charges of sexual contact with a student, unlawful contact with a minor, criminal use of a communication facility and corruption of minors.

Records show Gallagher also has pleaded guilty to student sex charges in Nassau County, New York, and is awaiting sentencing there.

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