Former Teacher Found Guilty Of Raping Student At Hillsborough Home

HILLSBOROUGH, NJ — A former Hillsborough resident and former Toms River North Teacher was found guilty on Wednesday of five counts of aggravated sexual assault and 13 counts of sexual assault, announced Ocean County Prosecutor Bradley D. Billhimer.

Raymond Waters, 71, of Pawlet, Vermont and formerly of Hillsborough, was found guilty following a three-week-long jury trial before the Honorable Guy P. Ryan.

The jury concluded beyond a reasonable doubt that between September 2002 and September 2004, Waters sexually assaulted a minor in Toms River Township, Barnegat Township, and Hillsborough Township.

Waters was remanded to the Ocean County Jail pending sentencing. A sentencing date has not been set.

In January 2014, the victim went to the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office to report that he had been sexually assaulted by Waters and Waters’ husband, Allen Harbatuk, 76, of Hillsborough, between September 2002 and September 2004.

An investigation found that the victim met Waters in 2002 when he was 14 years old - while Waters was his art teacher at Toms River High School North, according to Billhimer.

Waters sexually assaulted the victim at Toms River High School North, the Joseph A. Citta Boy Scout Reservation in Barnegat Township, and Water’s then-residence in Hillsborough, according to the investigation.

Additionally, Water’s husband, Harbatuk, sexually assaulted the victim and was sentenced to seven years in New Jersey State Prison in 2018.

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