June 6, 2025 By Bill Parry

A veteran principal at a Dutch Kills high school was arrested by detectives from the Queens Special Victims Squad late last month and booked at the 112th Precinct in Forest Hills for allegedly fondling two of his teachers, repeatedly, for nearly a year.

William Bassell, 66, was taken into custody at the Academy of American Studies on the morning of Tuesday, May 27, and arraigned in Queens Criminal Court on May 28, on a complaint charging him with forcible touching and five counts of third-degree sexual abuse.

Between July 23, 2023, and June 6, 2024, inside the school at 40-11 28th St., Bassell allegedly groped two women on the faculty by grazing his hand over their inner thighs without consent, according to the criminal complaint.

During one incident, on June

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