Former Old Colony teacher indicted, arraigned on rape charge

Oct 3, 2024

BROCKTON — A former high school teacher in Rochester accused of raping a student has been indicted and arraigned in superior court.

Andre Arsenault, 36, was charged with rape, assault to rape and nine counts of indecent assault and battery on a person age 14 or over, according to a court docket. He was arraigned in Plymouth County Superior Court in September.

Arsenault, of Marion, pleaded not guilty to the charges, according to court records. 

During the arraignment at Plymouth County Superior Court, Arsenault was ordered to have no contact with and stay away from the alleged victim and to stay away from schools, according to court records. 

The charges are dated to June 2021 and February and May 2022 across the 11 total counts.

At the time of the alleged offenses, Arsenault taught culinary arts at Old Colony Regional Vocational Technical High School in Rochester.

The alleged victim was an Old Colony student, according to reports.

The indictment in superior court comes months after Arsenault was arrested and arraigned in Wareham District Court on charges of rape and indecent assault and battery on a person age 14 or over in March.

Arsenault pleaded not guilty to those charges, alleged offenses dated October 2022, according to court records. 

Those two charges in district court were then dropped by prosecutors Sept. 13, a week after Arsenault was indicted on 11 counts in superior court, according to court records.

At the time of the arrest in March, Arsenault was no longer working at Old Colony.

In a January 2023 letter, Quinton Dale, associate commissioner of investigations for the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, told Arsenault the department had “learned of allegations that you engaged in conduct that calls into question your fitness to maintain” a teaching license.

Arsenault surrendered the teaching license less than a month later, according to Department of Elementary and Secondary Education documents obtained through a public records request.