Gwinnett sex assault case draws scrutiny

Former students, others criticize board’s procedures.

A handful of former Peachtree Ridge High School students and others gathered at a Gwinnett County school board meeting Thursday to criticize its handling of sexual assault claims, particularly one by a female student who accused a classmate of forcing her into sex at the school last year.

The boy said the oral sex was consensual, and both students were suspended for 10 days for engaging in sexual activity on school grounds. The girl filed a complaint with the U.S. Education Department’s Office of Civil Rights last year, and its investigation is ongoing. The Gwinnett County District Attorney’s office, which assisted in the school district’s investigation, is conducting a review of the case and is scheduled to meet the girl and her attorneys Friday.

Kristen Oyler, a Georgia State University student who heard about the case, contacted the girl’s attorney and asked those concerned about how Gwinnett handled it to attend Thursday’s school board meeting.

“I wanted to send a message to the school board that someone needs to be held accountable for their behavior,” said Oyler, who said she was sexually assaulted last year.

Their complaints included that the girl had to attend a disciplinary hearing with the boy, traumatizing her.

The incident at Peachtree Ridge High, in Suwanee, occurred Feb. 4, 2015. The boy’s attorney, Torin Togut, said the students exchanged sexually charged messages and went into a darkened room at the school for about 15 minutes. Togut said the girl didn’t try to stop the incident, and he has presented documents to the AJC showing his client passed a polygraph test. Adele Kimmel, an attorney representing the girl through Public Justice, a law firm that specializes in civil rights case, said the girl did insist that the boy stop.

“No means no. Everyone needs to understand that,” the accuser said in a written statement Kimmel handed out.

Gwinnett school officials said they could not discuss the allegations because of the ongoing federal civil rights investigation, but released a two-page statement Thursday outlining how they handle sexual assault allegations, staff training and education given to students about sexual assault, dating violence and other forms of abuse.

Officials insisted they did not take her claims lightly.

The “local school made a decision based on a preponderance of the evidence that the accused and the accuser both violated school rules and that the accuser had not been the victim of a sexual assault,” the statement said.