Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Teacher sex assault case headed to trial
Community outrage over charges, other allegations continues to grow
SOUTH COVENTRY » All four charges against Owen J. Roberts High School teacher Stephen Raught, accused of sexually assaulting a 17-year-old student in the school, were held over for trial during a preliminary hearing Thursday afternoon.
The case has opened a wound in the school community, with alumni saying similar reports about inappropriate behavior have been made in the past and brushed off.
Raught, 53, is charged with three third-degree felonies — intercourse/sexual contact with a student; corruption of a mi
nor; unlawful sexual contact with a minor; and endangering the welfare of a child, which is a misdemeanor.
District Judge John Hipple did not pause in finding Assistant Chester County District Attorney Emily R. Provencher had presented a “prima facie” case, justifying a full trial on all charges in Chester County Common Pleas Court in West Chester.
The preliminary hearing lasted less than 20 minutes.
Most of that hearing was consumed with the testimony of State Trooper Matthew McGuire, who conducted the investigation into the alleged March 16 incident.
He testified he was contacted on March 24 after a report was made on “ChildLine.”
McGuire interviewed the student, whose name is being withheld because of her age, at her home and recorded the interview, he told the court.
At the time of the incident, Owen J. Roberts High School was closed for classes due to state-mandated lockdowns because of the coronavirus pandemic.
The student told McGuire that after entering the high school building at about 11 a.m. on March 16 to obtain a textbook left behind, she ran some errands and returned to the high school at about 12:30 p.m.
There she observed Raught walking toward the school.
Raught used his swipe card to enter the building and the two walked to his classroom. Once there, Raught closed the door, hugged her and moved her out of sight of the glass doors, McGuire testified, mirroring the statement he made in the affidavit of probable cause filed in Hipple’s court.
With the student sitting on a countertop, Raught went on his knees and began kissing the student’s stomach and then engaged in oral sex through her clothing, according to McGuire.
The student told McGuire that Raught said “I wish I could take you home with me, but we both know that would be very bad and I wouldn’t be able to help myself,” McGuire testified.
After she separated herself from Raught and began to leave he said to her “oh yeah, you need a textbook. ‘No, I don’t,’ the student replied. Why are you here? You need a textbook,” Raught told the student, McGuire testified.
McGuire also testified that swipe card data and surveillance cameras outside and inside the school corroborated that the two had entered together and the student left carrying a textbook.
Provencher successfully objected and kept McGuire from responding when Raught’s attorney, Matthew Sedacca of Philadelphia, asked McGuire if he was aware the student emailed Raught several weeks later.
Sedacca said the question “goes to the student’s motive about disclosing the incident,” but Hipple sustained Provencher’s objections and McGuire did not respond.
Not the first time
The case has sent shockwaves through the school district.
Raught’s arrest is the second time an Owen J. Roberts High School teacher has been arrested for having sexual contact with a student in the last three years.
In 2017, science teacher Melissa Bonkoski was charged with felony institutional sexual assault, unlawful contact with a minor, unlawful use of a communications facility, and corruption of minors for having sexual contact with a 16-year-old student.
And there may be more that never made it to the courts.
In the wake of Raught’s arrest on May 7, a group of nearly 50 former Owen J. Roberts High School students who were members of student government during their time in school, issued a joint letter calling for measures to address sexual abuse by teachers.
The letter said complaints about Raught — and other sexual incidents both by students and staff — had been made multiple times by students, and were ignored by administrators.
That letter caught the notice of Chester County District Attorney Deb Ryan, who told MediaNews Group she will be looking into the allegations made in the letter from the alumni.
The administration has responded to the ongoing community outrage in two ways,
At the June 15 school board meeting, Superintendent Susan Lloyd said the curriculum is being reviewed to ensure “we can teach students how to respond if a trusted adult makes them feel uncomfortable.”
Staff will also receive training in how to spot the signs of “adult grooming behavior,” a phrase that describes befriending and establishing an emotional connection with a child, and sometimes the family, to lower the child’s inhibitions with the objective of sexual abuse.
The district further announced it has hired a special expert to audit the district’s policies and procedures regarding complaints about sexual contact.
The district hired Kelley B. Hodge, a former Philadelphia district attorney who was also the first Title IX coordinator for the University of Virginia, to conduct the audit, according to district solicitor Brian Subers.
“Given her extensive background, and experience in the university system, her efforts will be very helpful to us,” said school board Vice President John Diehl.
“We’re doing the right thing, at the right time for the right reason,” said school board member Jennifer Munson.
But if these steps have done anything to mollify the anger in the community, there were no signs of it at the June 8 meeting, which was conducted online and had more than 600 participants.
“We can’t be sending our kids to school if you’re ignoring reports of sexual abuse,” said West Vincent parent Paul O’Sullivan.
Ryan Maneval of East Vincent said “I don’t understand how a teacher can get away with everything that he did for so long with everybody knowing about it. That the district did nothing is horrific.”
“I’m a mandated reporter (of sexual abuse) and have been for 20 years,” said Dave Mansfield of North Coventry. “It’s not rocket science.
It’s anonymous. You call and report it. Done.”
East Coventry parent Jenn Wunderlich and her daughter Emily both spoke at the June 8 meeting and said Emily had been sexually assaulted by another student on a school-sponsored band trip and that the other student pleaded guilty, but he was still allowed to participate in band.
Emily Wunderlich said since she has begun speaking out, several other girls at the school have contacted her about similar incidents they experienced.
She said Lloyd has shown “a lack of leadership,” adding “until she is out, the school will only be getting worse.”
Subers said the incident about which Emily Wunderlich spoke is the subject of “an ongoing investigation.”
“What does it take to expel a student?” East Coventry parent Dina Sargeant asked after Emily Wunderlich spoke.
After hearing Wunderlich speak, East Coventry parent Kelly Morrow said “I have two ninth-graders in band and now I am wondering if that’s a safe place to be.”
“So many stories have been shared in the past month about this, it’s disturbing,” said North Coventry resident Kristin Ackerman.
“How many more people need to be sexually assaulted for them to be heard?” asked student Ashlee Mitchell of South Coventry.
“There is a lot of predatory behavior by boys at the school. I do not feel my daughter is safe,” said West Vincent parent Traci Frederick. She said a student was harassing her daughter, had physical contact with her “and threatened my entire family.”
Parent Casey Drucquer said she has four children and “OJR is the entire reason why we moved here. Now I am sick to my stomach about sending my two daughters and my son to this high school.”