Boston Sexual Abuse Lawyer Blog

A bounce at a Norton sports bar has been released on $5,000 bail after pleading not guilty to raping a Wheaton College student at the establishment. Paul Panaikas of Taunton is accused of raping the student at the Sportsway Café on Feb. 2.

Prosecutors said at his arraignment Wednesday that he pushed the woman into a closet and sexually assaulted her. Authorities say the woman's friends banged on the closet door.

The 38-year-old Panaikas' lawyer says his client is not guilty. The attorney says the Wheaton student "stalked'' his client, and willingly followed him into the closet. The defense lawyer also questioned why the alleged victim did not undergo tests for rape at the hospital and why it took her a week to report the case to police.

A Suffolk Superior Court judge will decide whether to dismiss a lawsuit against Children's Hospital Boston, after hearing arguments this week on the suit filed on behalf of 11 people who say they were abused by pediatrician Melvin Levine, when he worked in North Carolina.

Levine, who has been accused of sexually abusing dozens of children during medical treatments, had been an esteemed doctor at Children's and later became a professor of pediatrics at the University of North Carolina Medical School in Chapel Hill. He committed suicide last February. A class action suit had been filed against him at the time, but Levine had never faced criminal charges stemming from the allegations.

The Boston lawsuit contends that Children's Hospital could have prevented the abuses alleged in North Carolina if it had reported earlier complaints made about the doctor.

The Boston Globe reports that attorneys for Children's Hospital argued in Court that the hospital had no duty to report complaints to institutions that employed Levine after he left Boston.

"There is simply no duty under Massachusetts law between Children's Hospital and these North Carolina plaintiffs," said Gail Ryan, an attorney for the hospital.

The lawsuit, she continued, could set a bad precedent.

"We're talking about fundamental notions of the meaning of negligence," the Globe quoted Ryan as saying. "[The lawsuit] would open up this court to any out-of-state litigant who wanted to come back in here and file a suit against any former employer for potential acts of their former employees years down the road."

But Mark Itzkowitz, an attorney for the North Carolina plaintiffs, told the Globe that the hospital had received complaints about the doctor as early as 1967, and should have suspected that potential abuses could occur at other hospitals.

"The public is reliant on the medical community to police its own physicians," Itzkowitz said.

Judge Merita Hopkins did not specify when she will make a decision on whether the suit can go forward.

The Boston Globe reports that New England Conservatory officials said they have received no complaints from students or alumni about a convicted sex offender hired by renowned conductor Benjamin Zander to make videos over the past decade.

Karen Schwartzman, a spokeswoman for the conservatory, would not confirm that Zander had been fired, but she said in a phone interview that his departure was warranted.
Zander believed Peter Benjamin was remorseful and determined to turn his life around.

Zander was one of numerous faculty members who used the services of Peter E. Benjamin, 68, but he was the only one to admit knowledge of the videographer's crimes. Zander has said he was fired after refusing to resign.

"His decision showed poor judgment,'' Schwartzman said. "The conservatory had no choice but to take the action it took.''

Benjamin spent five years in prison during the 1990s after pleading guilty to charges of rape and sex abuse. His case included allegations that he secretly videotaped himself having sex with three teenage boys.

Zander, 72, the revered conductor of the Youth Philharmonic Orchestra and faculty member for the past 45 years, left a deep imprint on the thousands of students he inspired with rousing talks and exacting standards over more than four decades at the New England Conservatory, leaving many dismayed that he left on such a discordant note.

Schwartzman acknowledged during the weekend that the institution did not follow its own policies to protect children. She said that in November 2010 the school began screening its vendors for criminal backgrounds, not just staff and volunteers, which they had previously done to comply with state law. They did not check Benjamin's background, however.

Last week, school officials sent e-mails to some 6,500 current and former students and their families, explaining that they learned in mid-December that a videographer on campus was a convicted sex offender.

During the weekend, Zander sent a letter to his youth orchestra telling them he preferred to stay in a job he adored. He told them he knew Benjamin's crimes were of a "sexual nature,'' but he said he did not know details.

New England Conservatory officials yesterday said they have received no complaints from students or alumni about a convicted sex offender hired by renowned conductor Benjamin Zander to make videos over the past decade, and they defended the decision to cut ties with him last week.

Karen Schwartzman, a spokeswoman for the conservatory, would not confirm that Zander had been fired, but she said in a phone interview that his departure was warranted.
Zander believed Peter Benjamin (above) was profoundly remorseful and determined to turn his life around.

WBZTV

Zander believed Peter Benjamin (above) was profoundly remorseful and determined to turn his life around.

"There might be some who think that certain people in an organization can be held to a different standard, because of their prominence or because of the number of years they have been affiliated or because of their role or because of the degree to which they are revered,'' Schwartzman said. "But when an institution is presented with information that a senior faculty member has made a decision without consulting anyone else about bringing a sex offender on a campus that serves children, the organization has no choice but to take strong disciplinary measures.''

Zander was one of numerous faculty members who used the services of Peter E. Benjamin, 68, but he was the only one to admit knowledge of the videographer's crimes. Zander has said he was fired after refusing to resign.

"His decision showed poor judgment,'' Schwartzman said. "The conservatory had no choice but to take the action it took.''

Benjamin spent five years in prison during the 1990s after pleading guilty to charges of rape and sex abuse. His case included allegations that he secretly videotaped himself having sex with three teenage boys.

Zander, 72, the revered conductor of the Youth Philharmonic Orchestra and faculty member for the past 45 years, left a deep imprint on the thousands of students he inspired with rousing talks and exacting standards over more than four decades at the New England Conservatory, leaving many dismayed that he left on such a discordant note.

But in interviews on and off campus yesterday, students and their parents had mixed feelings about Zander's departure.

"Sometimes he does things that annoy people, but like a lot of students, I think [Zander] is a very, very, very great person,'' said Rafael Horowitz Friedman, 19, a freshman oboist. "I can see why the administration thought he used poor judgment. But is this the way to treat someone who had such a huge impact for so many years?''

While dropping his son off at the school, Bill McShane said he thought the administration responded in a "knee-jerk fashion.''

"You get the sense that the administration was reacting to national concerns,'' he said. "At the very least, I think Zander had the responsibility to inform the conservatory that he was employing a sex offender. But I still don't think I would have fired someone who has been there for so long and done so much good.''

"It seems unfair to me,'' said his son, Billy McShane, 19, a sophomore.

Others said the school, which could be held legally accountable for any crimes committed on campus, had no choice.

"Zander has been really great for the conservatory, and I think he's a fantastic musician,'' said Vani Jagannathan of Southborough, who has a son and daughter in the conservatory's youth program. "As a parent, my first obligation is to my child. If the university administration thinks they made the right decision, I support them.''

Schwartzman acknowledged during the weekend that the institution did not follow its own policies to protect children. She said that in November 2010 the school began screening its vendors for criminal backgrounds, not just staff and volunteers, which they had previously done to comply with state law. They did not check Benjamin's background, however.

Last week, school officials sent e-mails to some 6,500 current and former students and their families, explaining that they learned in mid-December that a videographer on campus was a convicted sex offender.

During the weekend, Zander sent a letter to his youth orchestra telling them he preferred to stay in a job he adored. He told them he knew Benjamin's crimes were of a "sexual nature,'' but he said he did not know details.

He also told students he thought his removal had been influenced by other events, including previous disagreements with conservatory president Tony Woodcock.

"I felt it was the right thing at the time to give this man a chance,'' Zander wrote. "I deeply regret the upset I have brought to you all inadvertently as a result of the way this has all played out.''

A former Waltham Public Schools student has filed a lawsuit alleging that a former Waltham High School principal failed to act on prior reports of sexual abuse by a teacher that could have prevented the teacher from abusing him.

Patch.com reports that former student and alleged victim, Michael Phillips Jr., in the lawsuit filed in Middlesex Superior Court on Dec. 16, claims that former Waltham High School Principal and School Committee member-elect John Graceffa failed to act on prior reports of sexual abuse against students by Robert Dacey a former drama teacher at John W. McDevitt Middle School, who died in 2007 while he was awaiting trial on sexual abuse charges.

Graceffa currently works as the dean of students at Arlington Catholic High School in Arlington, according to the Boston Globe.

Specifically, Phillips' attorney, Carmen Durso said that Graceffa had been informed three times in 2002 about prior acts of abuse by Dacey, but failed to take action about them.

Dacey allegedly abused Phillips, now 20, in 2005, while a student at McDevitt Middle School. Phillips, after being abused three times, reported it to police in August 2006, according to Durso.

Reached by Waltham Patch yesterday, Graceffa said he had "no idea" about the lawsuit and was shocked to learn about it from a reporter. When asked whether he planned to take his seat on the School Committee early next year, he said, "yes."

Specifically, the lawsuit claims Graceffa violated the state's law that mandates school officials report such incidents to police. The suit also claims the City of Waltham, also named as a defendant, violated Title IX, a federal law requiring schools to have procedures about notice, education and training for reporting sexual abuse.

"Waltham very likely has such procedures but they certainly were not followed in this case. If they had been, Michael ... probably would not have been abused," Durso said.

Dacey died in June 2007, reportedly from a heart attack, while awaiting trial on 17 felony charges of sexual intercourse with a child, assault with intent to rape, indecent assault and battery on child under the age of fourteen, indecent assault and battery on a child under the age of 14, indecent assault and battery on a child over the age of 14, enticement of a child and statutory rape of a child, according to the lawsuit. The charges stem from alleged abuse against three separate boys.

The Boston Globe reports that the principal of the King K-8 School in Dorchester never alerted state authorities that a teacher's aide may have had inappropriate contact with a student last spring.

Massachusetts law requires school employees to report suspicions of child abuse to the state Department of Children and Families, but that law may provide some leeway. According to an informational pamphlet produced by the agency, professionals should immediately report cases when they "have reasonable cause to believe that a child under the age of 18 years is suffering from abuse and/or neglect.''

Whether this case rises to that "reasonable cause'' standard is the point of a review ordered by School Superintendent Carol R. Johnson. She has asked her staff to determine whether the King principal followed proper protocols in investigating the concern and in deciding not to file a report to the state.

"The principal investigated, and met with parents and staff members and concluded there was not sufficient information for action to be taken,'' the Globe reports quoted Johnson, who expects to have the review completed this week.

The teacher's aide, LaShawn Hill, subsequently transferred to Harbor Pilot Middle School, where he now stands accused of inappropriate conduct with a second student, who is autistic and unable to speak.

Johnson cautioned against hasty judgment against the King school principal. "I know the school leader cares about children and their well-being,'' she said. "We want to make sure when we speak about this we are accurate.''

In the allegations that surfaced Monday at the Harbor School, Johnson emphasized that the School Department took swift action, filing reports with both the police and the state. A spokeswoman for the state Department of Children and Families confirmed that it received a report about the Harbor incident and is investigating.

Hill's involvement with children extends beyond his job in the Boston schools, where he makes roughly $23,000 a year. A state-licensed family day-care center, Because the lil' Ones Count Too, operates out of his Dorchester home, according to the state Department of Early Education and Care.

In response to the allegations against Hill, the department, which licenses day-care programs, said it was opening an investigation into the center.

Hill, 33, who has been placed on administrative leave from the Harbor School and is facing termination, is expected to appear in court today after police issued a summons on a charge of lewd and lascivious conduct. Yesterday, he pleaded not guilty to five counts of larceny, accused of stealing laptop computers from the Harbor School.

Boston University leading hockey scorer Corey Trivino, who was drafted by the New York Islanders in 2008, was arrested Sunday night and faces multiple charges stemming from an incident with a female student, the student newspaper BU Today reported Tuesday.

Men's hockey coach Jack Parker dismissed Trivino, a senior forward, from the team.

"He is no longer associated with the BU hockey team," Parker said, according to the newspaper.

Trivino was charged with three counts of indecent assault and battery, two counts of breaking and entering in the nighttime and one count of assault with attempt to rape for allegedly entering a woman's room and attempting to kiss and fondle her against her will.

Trivino, from Toronto, was arraigned Monday and pleaded not guilty. He either could pay $25,000 bail or surrender his Canadian passport, the newspaper reported. He was ordered to leave his BU dormitory.

Dean of students Kenneth Elmore told BU Today that Trivino can attend classes until he is suspended or expelled.

"We appreciate that the judge in this case takes the matter seriously," Elmore said, according to the newspaper. "He used his process and we will use ours as fast and as thoughtfully as we can to carefully listen to all the charges and make sure that no one is harmed."

Suffolk County Assistant District Attorney Cameron Merrill told the court that witnesses claim that an intoxicated Trivino pushed his way into the woman's room and started kissing and fondling her against her will.

The woman told him to leave and he did, according to the newspaper. She then called BU police, who arrived a short time later and put Trivino under arrest.

Trivino leads Hockey East with 13 goals this season and is tied for eighth with 17 points.

AMHERST, Mass. - Everywoman's Center ( EWC ) at the University of Massachusetts Amherst has been awarded a three-year, $112,000 grant to provide outreach, counseling and sexual assault prevention education in the rural communities of Hampshire County. EWC is partnering with the state Department of Public Health, which was awarded more than $1 million by the federal Office on Violence Against Women ( OVW ) to support sexual and domestic violence prevention and intervention services in rural western Massachusetts communities.

Survivors of sexual and domestic violence in rural Hampshire communities face unique barriers when seeking support and intervention, according to Becky Lockwood, associate director for rape crisis and violence prevention services at EWC. Those barriers include geographic isolation, municipal police departments without full-time staff, lack of public transportation to larger communities where most medical and mental health services are provided, and fear of discussing abuse issues in small communities because "everyone knows everyone else's business."

With the funding, said Lockwood, EWC will reach out to survivors of sexual assault who live in rural communities and offer free peer counseling and support groups. A new focus of the project includes meeting with health care providers to develop screening and referral policies for teens and adults who have experienced sexual assault. EWC will also collaborate with area schools, social service agencies and youth groups to provide educational workshops on preventing sexual violence, including preventing the perpetration of child sexual abuse, she said.

The federally designated "rural" communities in Hampshire County to be served by the grant include Amherst, Belchertown, Chesterfield, Cummington, Goshen, Granby, Middlefield, Plainfield, Southampton, Westhampton, Williamsburg and Worthington. Other community organizations that are partnered with the Department of Public Health for the grant include NELCWIT in Franklin County and the Elizabeth Freeman Center in Berkshire County.

The Everywoman's Center Rape Crisis and Violence Prevention Programs provide rape crisis services for survivors of sexual violence including a 24-hour hotline, crisis intervention and counseling, help with the medical and legal systems and support. Rape crisis services and violence prevention programs are available at no cost to the Five College and Hampshire County communities at 888/337-0800 or 413/577-0940 ( TTY ).

The UPI reports that men who pay for sex are far more likely than those who do not buy sex to commit crimes related to violence against women, a U.S. researcher says.

Dr. Melissa Farley of Prostitution Research and Education, with logistical support from Demand Abolition, conducted a study of sexual attitudes of men in the Boston, MA area based on face-to-face interviews with 202 men. Those who bought sex were paired by age, education level and ethnicity to men who did not buy sex.

Men who buy sex from women self-report significantly more sexually coercive acts against women than non-buyers and they acknowledge the damage and violence of prostitution, yet remain largely indifferent, Farley says.

"Sixty-six of both sex buyers and non-sex buyers recognize that a majority of women are lured, tricked, or trafficked into prostitution," Farley said in a statement. "Although half of the study's sample does not buy sex, many of the non-sex buyers voice tolerance for men who do."

Although sex buyers note the coercive nature of prostitution, they rationalize their involvement in the sex industry in contradictory terms, declaring women in prostitution are essentially different than non-prostituted women.

The MetroWest Daily News reports that a school psychologist at Silver Lake Regional High School has been placed on leave after school officials learned he had been named in a civil suit that accused him of abusing minors decades ago while a priest.

School Superintendent John Tuffy said that officials placed Robert F. Daly on paid leave on Wednesday, the same day they learned from a newspaper article that Daly had been accused in a law suit of abusing children in the 1970s and '80s.

Tuffy said school officials were unaware of any accusations against Daly, who was hired by the school district in 2001, and that there have been no complaints about him during his time working for the district, which includes Kingston, Plympton and Halifax.
But he said officials decided to place Daly, who was planning to retire at the end of the year, on leave until he officially retires at the end of the school year on Monday.
"Given what was in the paper and the allegations made, we thought it was best that he just go home," Tuffy said, adding that the news "came as a shock" to the faculty.

Daly was ordained in 1967 but hasn't been allowed to work as a priest since 1984 when he took a leave of absence. During his time as a priest, he worked at St. Jerome's in North Weymouth, St. Patrick's in Brockton and parishes in Charlestown and Readville, according to official church records posted on the website of the watchdog group Bishop Accountability.org.

In 2005, he was named in a lawsuit along with 16 other priests, three lay employees of the archdioceses and high-ranking church officials filed by 25 people who said they had been sexually abused.

Carmen Durso, a Boston attorney who represented the plaintiffs, told the Daily News the Plaintiffs had all settled their claims through the archdiocese's arbitration process. Records from those proceeding are not public.

It wasn't until the archdiocese announced on Tuesday that Daly, at his own request, had been defrocked that school officials learned about Daly's past, Tuffy said.
Tuffy said much of Daly's job involved doing assessments of whether students required special education support and developing specialized education plans for the ones that did.

"I do believe that if people had had concerns about something it would have surfaced by now," Tuffy said. "Over the last many years, parents, students and staff have all come to be more vigilant and more concerned about anything that doesn't look right or feel right."

The UMass newspaper reported this week that the University's Everywoman's Center has been awarded a state-funded grant of $149,520 over three years to continue and extend its work with teen victims of sexual assault and dating violence.

The grant was awarded by the Massachusetts Office for Victim Assistance and is segmented into annual increments of $49,840. MOVA is an independent state agency which looks to increase outreach and advocacy among adolescents who have experienced sexual or dating abuse. The Everywoman's Center will attempt to utilize the incoming grant money to provide increased support to local middle and high schools.

The Everywoman's Center offers UMass students a number of volunteer opportunities. Students may complete a 60-hour training program offered by EWC to become rape crisis counselors or violence prevention educators on campus.