A New Jersey teacher's aide allegedly filmed himself sexually assaulting pre-kindergarten children inside their school — during bathroom breaks and nap time — and nobody stopped him until a completely separate investigation into his abuse of four sibling relatives uncovered the crimes.
Shaun M. Stebbins, 44, of Somers Point, now faces 61 charges including aggravated sexual assault and manufacturing child pornography, according to the Cape May County Prosecutor's Office. The allegations are staggering: Stebbins took photos and video of children's genitalia inside a Woodbine Elementary School bathroom and filmed himself assaulting kids during their scheduled nap time, per court documents obtained by WPVI-TV.
Here is what should enrage every parent: Stebbins was hired at Woodbine Elementary in February 2022 and worked there for years — right up until his arrest on March 29 of this year in a separate case. In that earlier case, Stebbins allegedly sexually assaulted four siblings, all extended family members, over the course of a decade, according to NJ.com.
It was that family abuse investigation, not any school safeguard, that exposed what was happening inside the classroom. The government school where Stebbins worked every day had no idea — or gave no indication it knew — until prosecutors came knocking.
Superintendent Adrienne Breitinger wrote to families that the district "immediately sought to replace Stebbins" after his March arrest. Note the language: replace, not investigate. Not alert parents. Not audit who had access to children. Replace. "The safety and well-being of our students remain our highest priority," Breitinger wrote. The statement would be laughable if the subject matter weren't so grotesque.
Cape May County Prosecutor Jeffrey H. Sutherland offered the familiar boilerplate: "Children are among our most vulnerable population and we have a responsibility to protect their safety and well-being." Authorities always say this after the damage is done.
Stebbins attended a virtual court appearance Monday and was ordered detained ahead of a November 4 court date. Information on his legal counsel or plea wasn't immediately available.
Meanwhile, in Oregon, an entirely different school safety catastrophe unfolded — a 16-year-old with his mother's shotgun blasted through locked doors at Silver Rail Elementary, killing three children ages 5, 8, and 11, plus a 25-year-old teacher, before a father who happened to be driving by rushed in and shot him dead. CBS News and the New York Post both covered the 911 call: Kaylub Giamanco told the dispatcher, "I have a gun, and I will shoot them right now if I have to." The dispatcher told him to wait. He didn't. His daughters survived.
Two stories, one theme: the institution will not save your children. In New Jersey, the school employed a predator for years and detected nothing. In Oregon, a parent on his lunch break had to do what locked doors and protocols could not. The government school system will hold assemblies on pronouns and equity. It cannot keep predators out of the pre-K bathroom.
The open question: how many more Shaun Stebbins are in government classrooms right now, and what — if anything — is the system doing to find them before the next prosecutor's press release?
