Epstein was academically bright and left school at age 16 – he skipped two grades. He attended two prestigious universities before inexplicably dropping out of both.
He later talked his way into a job at the Dalton prep school in 1974 teaching the children of wealthy NY families. It later emerged that he lied on his job application to gain access to the girls at the exclusive school. This is where he learned his sick grooming skills while teaching teenage girls math and physics.
He also benefited from a loosening of the school’s previously strict codes of conduct thereby enabling the young sociopathic teacher to prowl among the students.
Former pupils claim he inserted himself into social groups and even attended parties with the children – behaviour which was deemed by some to be “wrong” and “inappropriate.” A former graduate said, "I can remember thinking at the time, 'This is wrong'. He was much more present amongst the students, specifically the girl students during non-teaching hours...it was kind of inappropriate."
Another former pupil said other pupils praised his teaching abilities, particularly in private tutorials, but found his behaviour outside the classroom “creepy”. “The perception of Epstein was that he was a twenty-something who preferred hanging out with teenage students and acted like them, even in school. He was most often seen spending time with freshman and sophomore girls. Most of the other students saw this not as being cool, but as just plain creepy.”
It is unknown whether he assaulted any of his students.
He was ultimately fired in 1976 as "It was determined that he had not adequately grown as a new teacher to the standard of the school."
How Epstein honed his vile grooming skills as ‘creepy’ Math teacher