Stephen Stahl, the suspended dean of students for Coughlin High School, claims to have an alibi to allegations he had sex with a student a decade ago inside a classroom closet.

At the time prosecutors say the incident was happening, Stahl was at a viewing at a Hunlock Creek funeral home, according to documents filed Wednesday by his defense attorney.

Stahl was charged in February on allegations he had ongoing sexual relations with a 16-year-old student when he was a 37-year-old teacher.

The accuser claims the romance began on Friday, March 19, 2004 when Stahl ushered her to a classroom closet, where she performed oral sex on him after he removed his pants.

At Stahl’s preliminary on March 19 this year, the woman insisted that was the date their sexual relationship started.

“It was 10 years ago today,” she said.

Stahl is slated to stand trial next week in Luzerne County Court on a misdemeanor charge of corruption of minors.

Attorney Peter Paul Olszewski Jr. filed court documents Wednesday declaring Stahl will testify he was at a viewing at the Clarke Piatt Funeral Home in Hunlock Township at the time he is accused of first having sex with the student.

Olszewski said he will present evidence Stahl signed the register book upon entering the funeral home and will call several witnesses who will confirm his attendance.

The motion doesn't address the woman’s allegations of other sexual relations after the first encounter.

At Stahl’s preliminary hearing, the woman testified they began having sexual encounters in the school on Fridays. But, as the relationship developed, they began seeing each other outside of school — a relationship in which Stahl bought her a wallet and vibrator as gifts, she testified. 

The woman said she had sex with Stahl three times in hotels and five times in Stahl’s home in Hunlock Creek, and that they stopped having sex by September 2005.

She didn’t report the relationship until Dec. 31, 2013, because she finally “got the courage” to do it, she testified.

Stahl, 48, who made $77,582 per year as dean of students, was suspended without pay in February after the allegations surfaced. His teaching license has also been suspended.

bkalinowski@citizensvoice.com , 570-821-2055 

@cvbobkal