Student alleges sexual assault in lawsuit

A student at a Catholic high school in Fayette County has sued the school, its principal and two students on allegations that one of the students sexually assaulted her while the other stood guard.

The woman sued Geibel Catholic Junior Senior High School in Connellsville this month in federal court, along with Principal Patricia Nickler and two male students.

The plaintiff is named in the complaint, but the Post-Gazette does not name alleged victims in sex cases.

According to the suit filed by Pittsburgh attorney Joel Sansone, the woman and the two male students were doing volunteer work on the campus on June 20.

One of the males stood watch in a hallway while the other forcibly kissed the student, then picked her up, carried her into a bathroom, pulled his pants down and tried to pull hers down, according to the suit.

She said she objected, telling him “no” and “stop.” As he tried to pull her pants down, her cellphone fell to the floor, distracting him long enough for her to escape, the suit says.

The woman told her parents about the incident, and the parents and the woman met with Ms. Nickler that night. According to the suit, Ms. Nickler told the family the next day that the case would be closed unless she agreed to meet with the accused male and his parents.

She did. The male student denied the assault and his father called the plaintiff a liar, according to the suit. In addition, the principal said she couldn’t report the incident immediately because it was “the weekend,” the suit says.

The school did report it to police five days later on June 25. No charges have been filed.

At the school, the suit says, nothing changed. Neither student was disciplined. The complaint also says that the student who is accused of standing watch, a basketball player, has been accused in three prior sex assault incidents.

The woman said that in November, the same male student grabbed her buttocks at school but again school officials took no action and allowed “the sexually hostile environment and pervasive harassment to continue.”

The suit is seeking damages for emotional distress.

Geibel referred questions to the Diocese of Greensburg. In a statement, the diocese said that Geibel notified state police and Pennsylvania ChildLine about the allegations in June and that the school will “cooperate fully” with inquiries from investigators.