(FOX CT – FARMINGTON) A school system employee resigned Sunday following his arrest in New York state on charges of sexual misconduct.
New York state police said Reid A. Fontaine, 31, an information technology network specialist for the Farmington schools, attempted to have sex with a cow on a farm in Herkimer, N.Y., while another man took video of the encounter. Police did not have an address for Fontaine, who was arrested Friday, along with Michael H. Jones, 35, of Ilion, N.Y. Both men face charges of sexual misconduct, a misdemeanor.
Fontaine worked for the Farmington school system for six months before resigning his position on Sunday night, according to Superintendent Kathleen C. Greider.
Police said the incident was discovered by a farmer who set up a video camera in his barn in an effort to determine why his cows were acting anxious and not producing milk as usual, police said. The farmer called police after seeing the video of the alleged sexual assault of the cow. Greider said Fontaine did not have direct contact with Farmington students.
“The former employee did not provide instruction to students nor did he have responsibilities involving direct student contact,” Greider said. “As IT network specialist, his job involved the maintenance of the district’s technology infrastructure and hardware.”
Greider said the school district found out about the incident Sunday and alerted the Farmington Police Department.
Farmington Lt. Colin Ryan said the police checked to see if there were similar incidents in Farmington, but found nothing.
Fontaine was subject to a background check as part of the hiring process, Greider wrote, but no criminal activity was found.
Fontaine was released on an order to appear in court.
By Nicholas Rondinone, Hartford Courant