ALBANY, N.Y. (NEWS10) — A former Cohoes High School teacher was sentenced to four years in prison for raping a student in 2025. The Albany County District Attorney’s Office said on Friday that Drake Galarneau was also sentenced to 10 years of probation.
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Galarneau admitted to having sex with a student under the age of 17 between May and October of 2025 when he pleaded guilty to two counts of third-degree rape in June. Contact between the student and Galarneau began in January, just four months before sexual contact began with the victim.
Once released from prison, Galarneau must register with the New York State Sex Offender Registry. Assistant District Attorney Alyssa Congdon said he made calculated moves to become closer to the student and even became her student advisor.
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“The defendant told probation that, from his perspective, there was also an emotional component of this relationship, which he believes has been lost in this process,” she said. “But he was a 34-year-old man with grown and learned control, full adult maturity and, presumably, a fully developed capacity to understand the situation. She was a 16-year-old girl.”
After Galarneau read an apology statement, Judge Roger McDonough told him that none of his decisions were real-world thinking; however, the orange jumpsuit he was wearing and the prison sentence he was receiving were. Statements from the victim and her mother were read by Congdon before Galarneau was sentenced…