AC Dean Sued in Sex Abuse Scandal

A Waltham man has filed a lawsuit alleging that the current  dean of students, formerly the principal at , failed to act on prior reports of sexual abuse by a teacher that could have prevented the teacher from abusing him.

The former student and alleged victim, , in the lawsuit filed in Middlesex Superior Court on Friday, Dec. 16, claims that former Waltham High School Principal  failed to act on prior reports of sexual abuse against students by Robert Dacey a former drama teacher at John W. McDevitt Middle School, who died in 2007 while he was awaiting trial on sexual abuse charges.

Graceffa currently works as the dean of students at Arlington Catholic High School, according to the Boston Globe.

Specifically, Phillips’s attorney, Carmen Durso, said that Graceffa had been informed three times in 2002 about prior acts of abuse by Dacey, but failed to take action about them.

Dacey allegedly abused Phillips, now 20, in 2005, while a student at McDevitt Middle School. Phillips, after being abused three times, reported it to police in August 2006, according to Phillips’s attorney, Carmen Durso.

Phillip’s and Durso, spoke to reporters yesterday in their downtown Boston office.

Reached by Waltham Patch yesterday, Graceffa said he had "no idea" about the lawsuit and was shocked to learn about it from a reporter. When asked whether he planned to take his seat on the School Committee early next year, he said, "yes."

Mayor Jeanette McCarthy declined to comment on the lawsuit saying she had no yet seen it.

With the lawsuit now filed, Durso told Waltham Patch he will begin seeking additional documents related to the case and serve Graceffa the lawsuit documents.

Specifically, the lawsuit claims Graceffa violated the state’s law that mandates school officials report such incidents to police. The suit also claims the City of Waltham, also named as a defendant, violated Title IX, a federal law requiring schools to have procedures about notice, education and training for reporting sexual abuse.

“Waltham very likely has such procedures but they certainly were not followed in this case. If they had been, Michael … probably would not have been abused,” Durso said.

Phillips, in the lawsuit, is asking for a jury trial on the case, compensatory and punitive damages.

Dacey died in June 2007, reportedly from a heart attack, while awaiting trial on 17 felony charges of sexual intercourse with a child, assault with intent to rape, indecent assault and battery on child under the age of fourteen, indecent assault and battery on a child under the age of 14, indecent assault and battery on a child over the age of 14, enticement of a child and statutory rape of a child, according to the lawsuit. The charges stem from alleged abuse against three separate boys.

Phillips, who is pursuing a criminal justice degree at a Massachusetts college, said he accepts that some people won’t believe his story, but knows how to deal with that.

“As long as I have my friends and my family, I am fine,” Phillips said.

Details of Phillips’s Claims (source: Phillips and lawsuit documents)

• Phillips claims Dacey sexually assaulted him over the course of three months starting in May or June of 2005.
• Graceffa and the City of Waltham, despite knowing of Dacey’s prior history of sexually assaulting students, failed to take action to protect himself and other students.

Knowledge of Prior Alleged Prior Abuse by Dacey (source: lawsuit documents)

• In the course of investigating Robert Dacey for allegedly abusing Phillips, police learned of another victim, identified in the lawsuit as Victim 3, who attended Waltham High School from 1998-2001.
• Dacey allegedly began abusing Victim 3 while he attended the former South Middle School as a seventh-grader, in a nearly identical way to Phillips. Dacey allegedly blindfolded Victim 3, and put a wig and fake fingernails on himself and then proceeded to sexually assault Victim 3.
• Dacey allegedly continued his abuse during the victim’s high school career.
• During one incident, the blindfold fell of off Dacey and Victim 3 realized the abuser was Dacey. However, the relationship between the pair continued.
• Later, Victim 3 ended the relationship when he attended Waltham High School.
• Victim 3 told his aunt about the abuse, who then informed his mother.
• In 2002, Victim 3 and his mother separately informed Waltham High Head Football Coach Dan Keohane about the abuse. Keohane immediately reported the information Graceffa.
• Graceffa told Keohane that he would investigate the matter and was told to keep Victim 3 and Dacey apart.
• Keohane’s wife also learned of Dacey’s alleged abuse of Victim 3 and informed Graceffa about it. Graceffa told her he would look into it and get back to her. Graceffa apparently never followed up with Keohane’s wife.
• Greg Demeo, then a high school housemaster but currently the high school principal, at some point expressed concerns about Dacey’s relationship with Victim 3. He told police he may have told Graceffa of his worries, but was not sure.
• Demeo asked School Adjustment Counselor Phil Mickey to speak to Victim 3 about his relationship with Dacey.
• Mickey became alarmed when he saw Dacey had left an envelope full of money for Victim 3 on a school desk. He did not remember whether he told anybody about the money incident.
• Anthony Piantedosi, a high school housemaster who also rented an apartment in his home to Dacey, saw students come and go from Dacey’s unit, including Victims 2 and 3. Piantedosi said it never caused him any concern.

Full coverage of the story.