\>>Valley Patriot>>

Sex Assault Charges for Timony School Student
11/9/06

METHUEN - There is a lot of sexual activity going on in Deborah O’Connell’s 8th grade class at Methuen’s Timony Grammar School, activity that has lead to one student’s arrest and questions about the role of two others.

According to eyewitness accounts and a police report filed in Methuen, some students at the Timony School apparently have a problem keeping their hands to themselves, even while the teacher is in the classroom.

A 13-year-old student from the Timony was arrested and charged with two counts of indecent assault and battery on a child under 14 years old and one count of assault and battery.

The arrest stems from an incident that occurred on October 17, 2006 in Ms. O’Connell’s class involving two female students and one male student. 

According to the police report filed by Methuen police officer Thomas Torrisi, Officer Torrisi responded to the Timony Grammar School on a complaint of sexual assault and investigated the allegations. 

In his report, Torrisi states that two 13-year-old female students allege that a male student sexually assaulted them. One of the girls says that the boy “tried several times to grab at her breasts”  and that even though she kept hitting his hand away, he was able to “grab and squeeze her left breast.” 

The report then states that “the boy went over to a second girl in his class and started the same.” The report continues that not only was the boy accused of grabbing the other girl’s breasts, he then “put his hand down the front of her pants.”

One of the girls also alleges that the boy “demanded her to give him (oral sex)” and, when she said no, “he grabbed her by the back of the head and pushed her face into his crotch.”  

Following the investigation by Officer Torrisi, the boy was arrested and handcuffed at his home on October 20, 2006.   A pretrial hearing is scheduled for December 11, 2006 in Lawrence Juvenile Court.

The Valley Patriot spoke with the mother of one of the female students who made the allegation. She said she was “shocked” that such behavior and activities could take place in her daughter’s classroom with the teacher present.

“Where was the teacher?” she demanded to know. “How could this happen in a classroom? I send my daughter to school and expect a safe learning environment … how could the teacher let this happen?” 

The mother is contemplating suing the school and has already contacted an attorney.

Another parent, whose daughter is in 6th grade at the Timony, was equally disturbed that the teacher could allow such behavior to occur in her classroom. 

“First on a school bus and now in the classroom,” she stated. “What is going on with the students in the Methuen schools?”

 The school bus incident this parent was referring to was last year and involved one Methuen public school student performing oral sex on another student. When contacted for comments regarding the most recent incident, neither Ms. O’Connell nor the principal, Miss Fawcett, would comment.

The Valley Patriot was told by one school official that a gag order has been placed on all faculty members at the Timony regarding the incident.

If the juvenile boy eventually ends up in court and is found guilty after a trial, he would have to register as a sex-offender. Further investigation by The Valley Patriot, however, has turned up conflicting stories by the alleged victims of the assault and questions as to whether or not some of the sexual contact was consensual.

“Either way,” one parent charged, “consensual or not, I want to know why a boy and two girls are groping each other during reading time in the Timony School while the teacher is in the classroom. Why does nobody see what is going on? I understand that you cannot control everything with 20 or 30 kids at all times,” another parent protested.

“But this seems to be an ongoing problem in the Methuen schools … kids engaging in sexual behavior on school time and Methuen school officials looking the other way,” the parent continued.

 *Send your questions comments to ValleyPatriot@aol.com
The November, 2006 Edition of the Valley Patriot
The Valley Patriot is a Monthly Publication.
All Contents (C) 2006, Valley Patriot, Inc.
We publish 9,000 newspapers and distribute in Andover, North Andover,
Methuen, Haverhill, Chelmsford, Georgetown, Groveland, Boxford,
Lawrence, Dracut, Tewksbury, Hampton & Salisbury Beach, and Lowell.

Valley Patriot Archive

Prior Editorials

Prior columns by TomDuggan

Prior Lead Stories

Councilor Opposes
Home for Disabled Child