Global Courant 2023-05-04 22:26:32
A convicted pedophile raped a freshman while he was a teacher in a West Virginia school district. That district and the school’s former principal now face a lawsuit for allegedly “turning a blind eye” to the ongoing abuse.
Ronald Paul Harris, now 63, admitted in criminal court to molesting a 13-year-old student while he was a history teacher and basketball coach at Oak Glen Middle School in Hancock County, West Virginia.
The survivor, who is now 27 and listed in court documents as EH, sued Harris, the school board and then high school principal David Smith, who has since been promoted to high school principal, in civil court and claimed school officials had failed to protect her.
Her lawyers told Fox News Digital in a statement that they believe Harris also abused other students, and hope their client’s “courage” inspires other survivors to come forward.
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Ronald Paul Harris, who was a teacher in a West Virginia school district, pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting a student (Oak Glen Middle School Yearbook through plaintiff’s attorneys at Carey and Stewart PLLC)
“This case is a parent’s worst nightmare,” said the student’s attorney, Mary Pat Statler. “Learning that your child has been groomed and sexually assaulted by a teacher is beyond appalling. It is made even worse knowing that at the time of the abuse the administrator was in a position to stop the abuse or prevent future instances of abuse and instead to turn a blind eye.”
Harris pleaded guilty in criminal court last September to sexual assault by a person in a position of trust and is serving a 10- to 20-year prison sentence and must register as a sex offender. As part of the deal, five other felony charges were dropped.
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EH, who was 13 years old at the time of the abuse, became Harris’s “teacher assistant” and would help him grade papers after her high school classes ended, according to the lawsuit.
To move from middle school to high school, EH had to “log in,” which produced a record of her visits to Harris. According to the lawsuit, she signed up at least 10 times.
Oak Glen Middle School in Hancock County, West Virginia is where Ronald Paul Harris sexually assaulted a student (Google Street View)
By the time she turned 14, Harris had “escalated his abuse” and expressed his romantic and sexual feelings for her, the lawsuit says.
According to the lawsuit, he allegedly raped, fondled and masturbated in front of and on her while they were in a media room storage unit connected to Harris’s classroom.
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On one occasion, then-high school principal Dave Smith “tried to gain entry into Harris’s classroom when he was sexually assaulting EH, but when he noticed the door was locked, he just stopped trying and started running away.” walk, down the hallway,” the lawsuit alleges.
Afterward, EH reportedly called her principal, who had a “brief” conversation with Harris and the student, but nothing was done.
Oak Glen Middle School in Hancock County, West Virginia is where Ronald Paul Harris raped and sexually assaulted a student (Google Street View)
“Harris was sweating profusely, visibly and audibly nervous, and outwardly anxious, but Smith did not address the closed-door situation,” the lawsuit alleges, “or the extremely strange, guilty behavior of Defendant Harris.”
EH’s lawyers said they questioned a witness, who reportedly said it was “common knowledge” that Harris had masturbated multiple times on school grounds and maintained a “Top 10” list of the most attractive students.
Neither Smith nor the school district have responded to Fox News Digital’s request for comment on the allegations.
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The survivor “spent most of her high school career alone in her bedroom and stayed away from school social gatherings because of the abuse, the lawsuit said.
Her “ongoing feelings of isolation, shame and social anxiety” continued throughout college, the lawsuit says.
Statler asked other victims of, or witnesses to, Harris’s actions to call her law firm, Baily and Glasser, LLP at 304-345-6555.
Chris Eberhart is a crime and American news reporter for Fox News Digital. Email tips to [email protected] or on twitter @ChrisEberhart48
