Local News
Matthew Rutledge allegedly used his status as a popular teacher at Miss Hall’s School to abuse students since 1994. Authorities recently concluded that “no criminal conduct occurred.”
The Berkshire District Attorney’s Office will not prosecute a former teacher at Miss Hall’s School, a private high school for girls in Pittsfield, who was accused of grooming and sexually abusing students.
Matthew Rutledge, a longtime history teacher at the school, has been accused of sexual misconduct by five women in total. Local authorities were first alerted to allegations of possible criminal activity involving Rutledge in the spring of this year. Pittsfield police opened an investigation, which has since concluded that no criminal conduct occurred, according to a spokesperson for the DA’s office.
In Massachusetts, the age of consent is 16. At least two of the women have publicly said that Rutledge began grooming them and engaging in inappropriate conduct when they were younger, and that Rutledge sexually assaulted them after they turned 16.
“Massachusetts law defines the age of consent as 16. While the alleged behavior is profoundly troubling, it is not illegal,” District Attorney Timothy Shugrue said in a statement.
In March, Head of School Julia Heaton received a letter from an attorney representing an alumna who accused Rutledge of engaging in inappropriate sexual conduct with her. The accusations against Rutledge became public in April. Melissa Fares, who graduated from Miss Hall’s in 2010, said in a post to the school’s Facebook alumni group that she had officially reported the allegations to school officials.
“[Rutledge] used his power and control as a teacher (and as my advisor) to groom me for his own gratification,” Fares wrote, according to a screenshot published by The Berkshire Eagle. The local paper was first to report on the allegations.
Hilary Simon, who graduated in 2005, announced that she had come forward with similar allegations shortly afterward. By early May, five former students in total had notified school officials and authorities about their alleged abuse.
The allegations span almost two decades, from 1994 to 2010. Rutledge resigned earlier this year and is banned from returning to campus.
“Investigations into allegations of child abuse are inherently complex and require scrutiny. Fully investigating these alleged crimes [takes] a great deal of time. Our Office, as well as our partner law enforcement agencies, will not rush investigation for the sake of coming to expeditious conclusion,” Shugrue said in his statement.
Shugrue’s office will not release additional information about the investigation, citing privacy concerns.
An external investigation is being conducted by “trauma-informed investigators” at Aleta Law, according to Miss Hall’s. In July, school officials said that more than 50 alumnae and employees had been interviewed, and they estimated that an additional six to nine months was needed for the investigation to be wrapped up. The school has promised to share Aleta’s full report with the public once this process is complete.
A request for comment sent to Miss Hall’s Monday was not immediately returned. The school has previously said that is not commenting publicly.
“Out of respect for the privacy of the brave women who have come forward, as well as for the integrity of the ongoing investigations, we cannot comment on the details of any reports. To do so could interfere with the investigations being conducted by professionals experienced in these matters,” a statement on the school’s website reads.
Last week, Fares also filed a civil suit against Rutledge and the school in Berkshire Superior Court. Many details of Rutledge’s alleged misconduct involving Fares were detailed in a complaint.
Rutledge allegedly began paying special attention to Fares during her first year at the school, asking personal questions about her sexual history and giving her nicknames like “little one.” He allegedly encouraged her to come to his classroom at night, and made excuses to be alone with her. He began sexually abusing her during her sophomore year, according to the complaint. Rutledge, then 45, gave Fares gifts and professed his love for her, it states. Fares was 15 at the time.
At the end of that year, Fares considered not returning to Miss Hall’s. Rutledge allegedly traveled to Fares’s home in Connecticut for a weekend, staying in a guest house. He allegedly groped her, held her hand, and massaged her upper thigh under a table. When Rutledge departed, he purposefully left behind a bottle of cologne “in case Melissa missed his scent,” according to the complaint.
Fares returned to the school, and Rutledge became her adviser. Advisers at Miss Hall’s function as “quasi-parents” to their advisees, according to the complaint. He allegedly continued to grope, hug, and have sexually inappropriate conversations with Fares in his classroom at night.
Rutledge allegedly raped Fares in 2008, during the fall of her junior year. She was 16 at the time. Fares did not verbally consent, according to the complaint. Rutledge allegedly raped her again in the spring of 2009, when she had just turned 17. Fares described feeling “paralyzed” during the encounters. Rutledge’s sexual abuse and exploitative behavior continued throughout Fares’s senior year and even after she graduated, according to the complaint.
“He was a master of manipulation and wielded a lot of power over Melissa,” Fares and her lawyers wrote in the complaint.
They also allege that multiple staff members knew or should have known that Rutledge “had a propensity to sexually abuse children at Miss Hall’s” and failed to take action that could have prevented Fares’s abuse.
“Separate allegations were made against two former employees of Miss Hall’s School. These claims were deemed unfounded,” a spokesperson for the DA’s office said in a statement.
Multiple former students told WAMC that Miss Hall’s fostered a community where inappropriately close relationships between students and faculty were the norm. Rumors about Rutledge “dating” students swirled, but his power and popularity protected him from scrutiny, WAMC reported.
“He was this larger-than-life guy,” Fares told The Boston Globe earlier this year, referring to Rutledge. “He was extremely highly regarded by the school. He had everyone wrapped around his finger.”
Members of the Class of 2014 delivered a letter signed by more than 180 former students to school officials at this year’s reunion. They expressed grief and anger at the alleged abuse perpetrated by Rutledge and the school’s alleged dismissal of valid concerns before Fares went public.
“The community of former students has readily and easily rallied behind [Rutledge’s] victims because many of us had heard rumors of his inappropriate conduct during our own school years,” they wrote.
In her interview with the Globe, Fares said she was warned by a group of girls about Rutledge’s behavior. They used the term “Matt’s girls.”
In a separate interview, Simon told the paper about her history with Rutledge, which includes many similar aspects to how he allegedly groomed and abused Fares. Simon said that he continued to exploit her during her time at college, while Rutledge was also allegedly abusing Fares.
Officials at Miss Hall’s say they are fully cooperating with all investigations. The school is engaging in a multiyear partnership with the national nonprofit Learning Courage to work with faculty and process misconduct reports. Learning Courage is conducting an audit of all school policies about preventing and responding to sexual misconduct. The group will release a full report, and publish a series of recommendations. Miss Hall’s is also increasing counseling resources and expanding training in sexual misconduct prevention for faculty and staff. Many of the details about the school’s response, including a lengthy FAQ, can be found online.
A copy of the civil suit filed last week against Rutledge and Miss Hall’s can be found below.
Fares Complaint by Ross Cristantiello on Scribd
Boston.com Today
Sign up to receive the latest headlines in your inbox each morning.
Source link
[redirect url=’https://fastpowers.com/’ sec=’3′]