School staff won’t be charged

St. Andrew’s School failed to tell authorities about assault claim.

After re-examining whether St. Andrew’s School violated state law by failing to tell authorities in 2014 about a reported sexual assault of a 15-year-old student on its campus, city police have decided no one at the school will face charges.

The additional look into the case came after The Palm Beach Post in August reported that the private school never contacted authorities when a freshman boarding student told administrators that she had been groped repeatedly by a fellow student in a campus dormitory.

“We reviewed the case and discussed it with the State Attorney’s Office and no charges will be filed at this time,” Boca Raton police spokesman Mark Economou said in a statement Saturday.

In the May 2014 incident, police say 18-year-old Oleg Novikov asked to touch the 15-year-old student’s breast and then grabbed it several times before fondling her buttocks while in the girls’ dormitory, police records show.

The girl told Brooke Swindle, the school’s resident life director, about the incident two days after it happened, according to police. Swindle and other administrators interviewed her and met with her mother but never notified local or state authorities.

Police learned about the assault more than a month later, when the girl and her mother reported the matter directly to them.

Detectives arrested Novikov with lewd and lascivious molestation after a four-month investigation. He was charged by prosecutors with felony battery, though the charge was dropped after he wrote a letter of apology admitting he fondled her and agreed to perform 50 hours of community service.