New Allegations of Decades-Old Sexual Abuse Emerge at Newton Private School
Several former students of an all-boys boarding school in Newton claim they were sexually abused by four teachers at the school between 1968 and 1976. Mitchell Garabedian, a prominent local attorney who specializes in sex abuse cases, is planning to file a lawsuit on behalf of two students against several teachers and their supervisors at the Fessenden School, The Boston Globe reports.
Garabedian said that it was “inconceivable the administration of [Fessenden] could not have known’’ about these cases of abuse, and that the school had been “stonewalling these victims for years.’’
In 2011, the school’s headmaster David B. Stettler sent a letter to all alumni, faculty, and parents revealing that it had received two complaints — one in 2008 and another in early 2011 — of sexual abuse involving former assistant headmaster Arthur Clarridge and a friend of Clarridge’s. Following an internal investigation, school officials found additional complaints filed by alumni detailing sexual abuse from the 60s and 70s, as well as numerous allusions by alumni to other unreported cases. Clarridge resigned from his post in 1977 after being charged in connection with a Revere sex ring, charges that were dismissed after testifying against a doctor involved in the ring, a Globe investigation found.
The lawsuits, which according to Garabedian will be filed within the next two months, center on alleged sexual assaults that took place both on and off campus against victims who were between the ages of 10 and 13 at the time of the abuses, according to the Newton Tab, which first reported the planned lawsuits.
The school reached a low six-figure settlement with one victim in 2010, according to The Globe.
One former student, John Sweeney, 56, recounted to The Globe an incident in 1969 when Clarridge had drugged and assaulted him when he was just 11 years old. Sweeney, who is unable to file a lawsuit because the statute of limitations on the alleged crime has expired, said the incident has haunted him his entire life.
Fessenden said on Monday it has reached out to victims to apologize for “intolerable behavior that occurred in the past.’’
To comment, please create a screen name in your profile
To comment, please verify your email address
Conversation
This discussion has ended. Please join elsewhere on Boston.com