Former Vineland Teacher Convicted, Sentenced 14 Years for Student Sexual Assault

Isaias Garza spent years after an investigation opened in 2018 trying to buy his victim's silence, offering money and other benefits to get the former sixth-grader to lie to investigators. It didn't work. Sentenced March 6 in Cumberland County Superior Court, the 58-year-old Vineland resident will serve at least nine and a half years before he is eligible for parole.

Superior Court Judge Niki Arbittier ordered Garza to serve consecutive seven-year terms for two second-degree counts: sexual assault and witness tampering/bribery. The aggregate 14-year sentence caps a case rooted in abuse that occurred on multiple occasions between 2004 and 2005, when Garza was the head teacher at the ExCEL program in Bridgeton and the victim was one of his sixth-grade students.

A Cumberland County jury found Garza guilty on October 3, 2025.

"The State also presented evidence that the defendant tampered with R.H. by offering him money and other benefits to lie to investigators about the abuse after an investigation into the allegations was opened in 2018," Cumberland County Prosecutor Jennifer Webb-McRae said in a statement.

The investigation involved the Cumberland County Prosecutor's Office, Bridgeton Police Department, and New Jersey State Police. Executive Assistant Prosecutor Lesley Snock and Assistant Prosecutor Brianne Malone represented the state at both trial and sentencing.

Beyond his prison term, Garza is required to register as a sex offender under Megan's Law and will remain under parole supervision upon his release. The case spanned more than two decades from the first assault to its courtroom conclusion, with the criminal investigation itself taking more than seven years to reach a verdict and sentence.