VOORHEESVILLE — John Krajewski won’t go to jail, but he will be supervised for the next three years, following his guilty plea in Albany County court last Friday.

The 26-year-old Voorheesville native pleaded guilty to endangering the welfare of a child after admitting to sleeping in the same bed with and kissing a 14-year-old girl for whom he babysat.

When he was charged last February with three counts of second-degree rape, a felony; two counts of committing a second-degree criminal act, also a felony; and one count of endangering the welfare of a child, a misdemeanor, his lawyer, Christopher Rutnik, said that his client wouldn’t take a plea bargain. Krajewski wanted a trial, Rutnik said, so he could exonerate himself.

After coaching the victim’s basketball team at St. Matthew’s church in the village, Krajewski became friends with her family, babysitting often, the girl’s father said. The Enterprise is withholding the name and identity of the victim.

On Jan. 23, 2006, State Police arrested Krajewski and the Voorheesville School District fired him from his job as a teacher’s aide in the elementary school. Linda Langevin, the school’s superintendent, said at the time that it was a coincidence that Krajewski was fired from his job on the same night that he was arrested; he didn’t have the proper certification to be a teaching assistant, she said.
"Obviously this conviction and this offense is going to preclude certain occupations, teaching is one of them" Rutnik said yesterday when asked if Krajewski would pursue a career in elementary education. He also said that Krajewski has no plans to coach basketball with minors in the future. Right now, Krajewski is working at a local bar and grill while he gets his life back on track, Rutnik said.

Going through the criminal justice system was hard on him and his family, said Rutnik. He had no prior offenses and he’s glad that it’s behind him, his lawyer said.

Initially, the girl’s family would only consider offering a plea bargain if it included time in a state prison, her father said. The first plea bargain offered by the district attorney’s office did include a term in state prison, Rutnik said, but Krajewski wouldn’t accept.

Shannon Sarfoh, the assistant district attorney handling the case for the girl, would not comment on any prior plea offers. She did say that the family was heavily involved in making the decision not to go to trial, a choice based largely on the effect a trial could have on the girl, who has been doing very well since her family moved to South Carolina, Sarfoh said.
"She was subjected to great ridicule in the small community of Voorheesville," Sarfoh said in a statement at Krajewski’s sentencing. "She has made great progress since leaving this community."

That’s what was most important to the girl’s parents, Sarfoh said. So, considering the circumstances, Sarfoh is satisfied with the plea deal to which Krajewski agreed.
"I had no desire to leave where I was. We started a whole new life" it’s not easy," said the girl’s father. "She couldn’t function here," he said of Voorheesville.

He said other students at school were nasty to her after the allegations were made public, particularly members of the basketball team that Krajewski volunteered with at the high school. Krajewski had been a high school basketball star when he was a student at Clayton A. Bouton.
Back in February, Rutnik said of his client, "He does not want to plead to anything that he did not do." Yesterday, Rutnik said that he had abided by that statement.
"The conduct to which he pled was he slept in the same bed and kissed her on the forehead," said Rutnik. "He recognizes he made a bad choice there."

Three years of probation is a reasonable punishment for the charge of endangering the welfare of a child, Rutnik said. But Krajewski has suffered consequences beyond that, like losing his affiliation with the school and damaging his reputation.
"Unfortunately, that’s a flaw in the criminal justice system," he said. "You can’t get your reputation back after it’s been tarnished."