Local resident accused of loan-sharking

A New York City schoolteacher was charged with loan-sharking after he lent a third party $40,000 at an annual interest rate more than four times the legal limit, said Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice.

Sean Harris, 36, of East Meadow, was arrested Tuesday night and charged with criminal usury in the second degree. He faces up to four years in prison if convicted, prosecutors said. He is due in court on Dec. 21.

Harris allegedly agreed to lend $40,000 at an interest rate of two percent per week, amounting to an annual interest rate of 104 percent in late 2010, said Rice. Any loan with an interest rate higher than 25 percent is considered criminal.

Harris, a physical education teacher at I.S. 141 in Astoria, Queens, is also a profession body builder, and has a pending case in Nassau County after being arrested on June 30 for criminal possession of a controlled substance for steroid possession. He is due in court for that case on Jan. 11.

“The defendant was trusted to educate children and serve as a positive role model in their lives,” said Rice, “but instead, he conducted himself like a common criminal.”