A former Bridgeton, N.J., public school teacher was convicted Friday of sexually assaulting a male student around 20 years ago and later offering him money to lie about the abuse, officials said.

Isaias Garza, 57, of Vineland, was accused of sexually assaulting the victim, identified only as R.H., multiple times between 2004 and 2005, the Cumberland County Prosecutor’s Office said in a news release.

When the abuse started, R.H. was a sixth grader in the Bridgeton Public Schools’ ExCEL program — a highly selective learning program emphasizing academic rigor, character development and community engagement — where Garza served as a head teacher.

Garza was initially arrested in October 2018 and charged with sexually assaulting R.H. and another minor, I.H., described by local media as

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