Queens Teacher Arrested for Loan Sharking

Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice announced Wednesday that a New York City teacher has been charged with loan-sharking after he allegedly lent a third party $40,000 at an annual interest rate more than four times the legal limit.

According to Rice, Sean Harris, 36, of East Meadow, was arrested Tuesday night by members of the Nassau County Police Department’s DA Squad and charged with criminal usury in the second degree, a Class E felony.

Rice said that in late 2010, Harris agreed to lend $40,000 to a third party at an interest rate of 2 percent per week, amounting to an annual interest rate of 104 percent. Any loan with an annual interest rate of more than 25 percent is considered criminal.

According to Rice, Harris, a physical education teacher at I.S. 141 in Astoria, Queens, and a professional bodybuilder, has a pending case in Nassau County after being arrested on June 30 for criminal possession of a controlled substance in the seventh degree for steroid possession. He is due back in court on Jan. 11 for that case.

“This defendant was trusted to educate children and serve as a positive role model in their lives, but instead he conducted himself like a common criminal,” Rice said.

Harris faces up to four years in prison if convicted and is due back in court on Dec. 21.

The charges are merely accusations and the defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.