Sexual Assault

November 24, 2014

$139M School District’s Sex Abuse Settlement, UVA’s Suspension of Fraternities Over Gang Rape Allegations Shine Yet Another Spotlight on Sexual Violence in Schools

A school district in California has agreed to pay $139 million to resolve the remaining sex abuse lawsuits involving an elementary school teacher. Mark Berndt, a teacher in the Los Angeles Unified School District, was convicted of numerous counts of lewd conduct.

Some 82 students are involved in the settlement, which was arrived at during jury selection of the trial.

According to plaintiffs, Berndt blindfolded the kids and fed them his sperm on cookies. If the child sex abuse trial had gone through, the alleged victims’ lawyers had intended to show evidence suggesting that the district knew of sexual misconduct allegations involving Berndt three decades ago but did not nothing until a pharmacy photo processor notified the authorities that there was film showing the kids blindfolded while eating an unknown substance.

November 19, 2014

Spine Doctor Accused of Massachusetts Sexual Assault

by Altman & Altman

A grand jury in Worcester County has indicted Dr. Ho Yin “Aaron” Shiu on one count of rape and multiple counts of indecent assault and battery. Shiu is a spine doctor. The indictments revolve around allegations involving two women.

One of the alleged victims, a 42-year-old woman, said that Shiu sexually violated her at Mass Memorial Medical Center during an appointment in 2013. The other woman, also a patient, claims that he assaulted her at AdCare hospital.

Last month, Shiu went into a voluntary, non-disciplinary agreement with Massachusetts’s Board of Registration Medicine not to practice in the state. By agreeing not to practice, Shiu is not admitting to wrongdoing.

November 5, 2014

Ex-Catholic Priest Settles Boston Child Sex Abuse Lawsuit With Former Student

by Altman & Altman

Sean Leo Rooney, an ex-Roman Catholic priest, has settled a Boston sexual abuse lawsuit filed by a man who claims that the defendant molested him when he was a 14-year old student. According to the plaintiff, now 48, Rooney masturbated and fondled him on a bus during a school trip to Massachusetts and also while at the Salesian Junior Seminary in New York where he was studying. The former priest was on the faculty there at the time.

In his Massachusetts sex abuse case, the plaintiff said that he didn’t realize until years later that it was Rooney’s behavior that had caused him such harm. He says that he continues to suffer from emotional trauma, depression, panic attacks, sleeping difficulties, and problems with alcohol because of the explicit abuse committed by the defendant.

Rooney was a priest for 50 years before he was defrocked six years ago. Aside from the civil case, Rooney could also be subject to criminal charges in Massachusetts. Last week, BishopAccountability.org, a watchdog group, added Rooney’s name, and the names of three other people, to its public database of religious leaders accused of sex abuse.

October 29, 2014

MIT Survey Reveals Prevalence of Sexual Assault on Campuses

by Altman & Altman

MIT has attempted to put a precise estimate on the prevalence of sexual violence on its campus in a comprehensive survey taken anonymously by its students.

According to results, which were published on Monday, about one in six female undergraduates at MIT who responded reported being sexually assaulted at least one time while enrolled at the university. 5 percent of those respondents said they reported the crime, according to results released Monday by the school. The Boston Globe reported that 3,800 students responded to the survey out of 10,800 who were invited to participate.

According to The Boston Globe, “MIT became the highest-profile college to put such a specific estimate on the prevalence of sexual violence on campus, amid heightened national attention on the issue. Many schools have been hesitant to conduct such surveys, but advocates have urged colleges to do so because victims are more likely to reveal that they were assaulted if they can remain anonymous. Undergraduates, in particular, are viewed as most at risk.”

MIT university president L. Rafael Reif said in a mass email sent to students and faculty of the school, that he was “disturbed by the extent and nature of the problem” reflected in the survey results.

“Sexual assault violates our core MIT values,” Reif wrote. “I am confident that, with this shared understanding and armed with this new data, the MIT community will find a path to significant positive change.”
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October 22, 2014

Two Young Women Sue Website in Boston for Sex Trafficking

by Altman & Altman

Two young women are suing Backpage.com after they became the victims of sex trafficking. Their Massachusetts lawsuit, filed in Boston is accusing the company of setting up a business model that enabled child sex trafficking in the U.S. The plaintiffs’ lawyers describe Backpage.com as a website that carries advertisements for illegal commercial sex.

One of the plaintiffs says that sold for over 1,000 times in 18 months when she was 15 and 16 in ’12 and ’13. The other girl says she was trafficked as a teen between ’12 and ’13. The two girls were purportedly trafficked in separate “stables” of girls who were moved to different cities, including Boston, other Massachusetts cities, and Rhode Island.

The plaintiffs claim that Backpage.com and parent company Camarillo Holdings LLC violated the Massachusetts Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2010 and the Trafficking Victims Reauthorization Act of 2008. They also are accusing the defendants of succeeding in purposely becoming a lead player in the online sex trade and making misrepresentations to non-profits and law enforcement to make it appear as if the website was trying to get rid of the child sex traffic ads when that wasn’t the case.

September 19, 2014

Fraternity Under Investigation For Alleged “Date Rape” Drugs at Party

by Altman & Altman

Tau Kappa Epsilon, a fraternity at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, is under investigation over allegations that some of its members inserted date rape drugs into the beverages of party attendees. According to police, several of the girls who attended the festivities had trouble standing or walking and experienced lapses in memory afterwards. Two of them had to go to the hospital. All of them had a red X on one of their hands, which was drawn on them while they were at the party.

Putting the drug Rohypnol, also known as a roofie, into someone ‘s drink has become a means of incapacitating someone prior to sexual assault. According to the search warrant affidavit, one of the women accused the fraternity of also trying to roofie women at another party the night before. Others said that on Friday, cups were placed below the bar while the drinks were made. Tau Kappa Epsilon’s chapter at the university has been suspended pending the investigation’s findings.

This is the same fraternity that last year was investigated over allegations involving three sexual assaults. No charges were filed in those probes.

September 11, 2014

Brandeis University Faces Scrutiny by Federal Investigators for Sex Abuse Cases

by Altman & Altman

Brandeis University in Waltham is the latest college to come under scrutiny by the United States Education Department for the handling of sexual assault complaints involving its students. The university is the 10th school in Massachusetts and one of more than 75 in the country to be investigated by the U.S. Dept. of Education according to WCVB.

According to reports (initially published by The Boston Globe), the investigation is centered on a student’s allegation that the school wrongly and unfairly found him responsible for sexual misconduct this past spring and subsequently disciplined him.

While Brandeis spokesman Bill Schaller did not comment directly about that particular investigation, he acknowledged that the school had already taken initiatives to prevent and respond to sexual assault complaints, including opening a rape crisis center, hiring a psychological counselor who specializes in trauma and sexual violence, and relocating its office of sexual assault services and prevention to a more central location on campus. According to WCVB, the university conducted bystander-intervention training for students and created an informational website and distributed resource guides to students, faculty, and staff to increase awareness of sexual assault services and prevention efforts.

This past May the Department of Education began an investigation of 55 campuses for complaints that they possibly violated rules governing the handling of sexual violence and harassment cases. Included in that list are Amherst College, Boston University, Emerson College, Harvard College, Harvard Law School, the University of Massachusetts Amherst, Berklee College of Music, Hampshire College, UMass Dartmouth, and Brandeis University.
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August 15, 2014

Former Student Sues Emerson College in Massachusetts Sexual Assault Case

by Altman & Altman

Jillian Doherty is seeking personal injury compensation from Emerson College. She claims that that the college mishandled her Massachusetts sexual assault case. Doherty wants compensation for the emotional trauma she suffered and her hospital bills and tuition. She dropped out of the school earlier this year.

Doherty says she was raped in April 2012 after having consensual sex with a male student after she refused to have anal sex with him. She contends that he forcibly penetrated her. The two of them were intoxicated at the time.

Doherty claims that she waited to report the incident nearly a year later because Emerson did a poor job of informing students about sexual assault and the resources that were available. When the accused provided new evidence and a character letter from someone who wasn’t even involved in the matter at the hearing, Doherty says she was not given a chance to respond. The male undergraduate was cleared in the case. However, following an appeal, the school found him responsible and he was expelled.

August 7, 2014

Teenage girl raped at Keith Urban concert

by Altman & Altman

Two Saturdays ago at the Xfinity Center in Mansfield, amidst a roaring crowd, the permeating smell of alcohol, the blazing lights and the blasting sounds of country music singer Keith Urban, a 17-year-old girl endured a painful traumatic event: rape. According to police reports, the event took place in the front lawn of the venue, in plain view of onlookers, most of who just watched. Some even filmed the rape on their phones.

According to a Mansfield Police statement, officers were not aware of the situation until a witness approached them. She had asked the victim, who was lying on the ground, whether the act was consensual. The girl allegedly told the witness it wasn’t. The girl then broke free of the attacker, and fled into the crowd. Sean Murphy, 18, of West Roxbury was arrested and charged with sexual assault, and released two days later on bail. He has pleaded not guilty.

Also at this concert, 22 people ended up hospitalized for alcohol poisoning, 50 underage drinkers were taken into protective custody, and many more were treated for injuries and arrested for public intoxication.

Though large public events that permit alcohol consumption are not unheard of, especially during the summer months, rape is inexcusable. What could have been done to prevent the assault? To start with, the security measures for large events need to be re-evaluated. Where were the officers and security team to bring order into large, drinking crowds? At the July 26th concert, an estimated 18,000 attendees filled the Xfinity Center on that night alone. If the Xfnity Center can hold such a sizable crowd, it should also have an equally sizable and efficient security measures than the ones currently in place. Yet the police department in Mansfield had trouble responding to the demands of the large crowd, at the cost of preventing rape.

“We were very busy with a lot of things going on not the least of which was taking care of the (rape) victim,” Police Chief Ronald Sellon said to the Boston Herald.
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June 18, 2014

Bill Would Give Massachusetts Childhood Sex Abuse Victims 32 More Years to Sue

by Altman & Altman

The Massachusetts House has passed a measure that would extend the statute of limitations for when a victim of child sex abuse can file a civil lawsuit in the state. Currently, victims have until age 21 to file an actions against their alleged assailants or the institutions that should have prevented/stopped the abuse. This bill gives victims until they turn 53 to sue for damages.

The proposed measure would also increase how much time a victim has after recovering repressed memories of Massachusetts childhood sex abuse to file a case. Currently, abuse victims have three years from when they remember. The bill extends that time period to seven years. The legislation now heads to the state senate.

Child sex abuse can lead to lasting scars. Often, children are too scared and confused to understand or even report what has happened to them. It may be years before they remember or want to speak out.