By: Jeff Sommes
A former Trenton teacher and basketball coach pleaded guilty this week to the Explicit Contact of a student, Mercer County Prosecutor Janetta D. Marbrey reported.
Darrell R. Moody, 52, of Plainfield, NJ, pleaded guilty to one count of second-degree Explicit Contact before Mercer County Superior Court Judge Robert E. Lytle on May 19, 2026.
Under the terms of the plea agreement, the state will recommend that Moody be sentenced to five years in state prison, subject to the No Early Release Act, and required to undergo an evaluation at the state Adult Diagnostic and Treatment Center in Avenel.
He will also be sentenced to parole supervision for life and will have to register as an offender under Megan’s Law. Additionally, Moody will surrender any teaching certifications he possesses and forfeit
public employment.
In May 2024, the victim contacted Trenton police to report incidents of Explicit Contact that began when the victim was in middle school.
A joint investigation with the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Special Victims Unit commenced.
Detectives learned that the victim met Moody when Moody was teaching fifth grade at Parker
Elementary School. Moody had Explicit Contact with the victim over the course of several years, beginning in middle school and continuing to high school.
During that time, Moody was also coaching basketball at Joyce Kilmer Middle School.
At the time of his plea, Moody admitted that between September 2013 and February 2014, he was a teacher at Parker Elementary School, and he engaged in explicit contact with the victim on numerous dates when the victim was his student.
Moody is also pending sentencing in a June 2023 Middlesex County case, where he was charged with
second-degree endangering the welfare of a child and second-degree solicitation of a minor for prostitution.