Student Details Sex Assault By Teacher In Suit Against Mercer School

MERCER COUNTY, NJ — A former student is claiming she was sexually assaulted by her teacher at the Hopewell Valley Regional School District, according to a civil lawsuit she filed.

The student, Sara Stillitano, is speaking out publicly and the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office is now following up on the new information "contained in the lawsuit that was not previously reported to law enforcement.”

In a civil lawsuit filed earlier this year in the Superior Court of Mercer County, Stillitano claims that her Timberlane Middle School teacher Mark Amantia sexually assaulted her and targeted other students as well.

Amantia has been with the district for 25 years and remains employed at the school district in the new academic year, the school Superintendent confirmed. Amantia is now a technology trainer.

In court documents, Stillitano and other students claim that Amantia was allowed to prey on students. She filed a notice of intent to sue the school district and Amantia back in 2019.

Her lawsuit filed in May includes new allegations that in the fall of 2016 Amantia had 13-year-old Stillitano accompany him to drop off gifts for charity in Trenton. But she was drugged and sexually assaulted by another man at a Trenton home while the teacher watched.

“It's taken me a really long time to be able to say that because I didn't understand what rape was until I got older. Only this year I came to terms with the fact that I was raped,” Stillitano told Patch.

Through therapy, Stillitano was able to piece together repressed memory of the assault. She recalled being dizzy and confused as she was helped to the second floor of a home.

“I remember seeing a bed with a metal headboard, a small camera on a tripod on the foot of the bed and two men I’ve never seen before,” Stillitano said.

While one of the men sexually assaulted her, the teacher and other man watched, according to the lawsuit.

“The Trenton incident was the one that's probably the hardest for me to come to terms with because not only was I fighting against having pushed it down far, but also the effects of whatever he gave me. Because that altered my ability to really see what was happening,” Stillitano said.

The cycle of abuse began at the end of seventh grade when she was in lacrosse and Amantia was the middle school athletics director, according to the 19-year-old.

In the eighth grade, she was assigned to his social studies class, and Stillitano said she was subject to unwanted back rubs and inappropriate comments from Amantia. In one instance, Amantia locked the door and covered the glass pane on the door with a “lockdown” cover, while alone with Stillitano. He then cornered her inside of the classroom, where he pulled down his pants, exposed his genitals, and pushed her against the wall, according to the lawsuit.

“I had my pencil in my right hand and I used it to defend myself. It hit his right arm and he stopped because I fought back for the first time,” Stillitano said.

Stillitano was wearing leggings when the teacher tried to pull them down.

“I don't wear leggings anymore. The waistband is too easy to get down. I like jeans now.”

Stillitano and her classmate reported Amantia’s behavior to the school’s guidance counselor when they were in the eighth grade. They reported that the teacher gave them unwanted massages at lunch and in his classroom, and stood uncomfortably close to them while they were seated at their desks in his classroom, according to the lawsuit.

Stillitano and her classmate also told the counselor they had overheard other female students talk about being subjected to similar encounters with Amantia.

But the school district failed to take action and protect “a vulnerable 13-year-old girl,” the lawsuit said.

“My entire sophomore year, I actually spent trying to work with them (school). And it wasn't until partway through that I realized they're actively covering this up and making this harder for me,” Stillitano said.

“It was one thing to come to terms with the fact that your teacher wanted to hurt you. But it's another thing to come to terms with the fact that the adults you thought would help you, actively made the decision not to.”

Stillitano reported Amantia to the school officials three more times but didn’t inform her parents until the final time a few years later.

“I didn't go to them. The reason being that I wanted to go to my counselor first because I wanted it to be taken care of,” Stillitano said. When her younger sister entered middle school Stillitano began to fear for her safety.

Amantia told Stillitano that he wanted to have her sister as his student when she entered Timberlane Middle School, according to the lawsuit.

“I had to tell her places to avoid in the hallway, I had to tell her to stay away from this person or this person. There were administrators who were really careful around her. It's a horrible environment for a sixth grader to be in,” Stillitano said.

At the end of eighth grade, Amantia invited Stillitano to participate in the township's Youth Advisory Committee which he chaired at the time and told her he wanted to “keep tabs on her.”

Fear for her sister’s safety coupled with an incident, when the teacher aggressively insisted on driving her home from a meeting, caused Stillitano to experience “unwanted memories” and she “really started to come to terms” with what happened to her.

That’s when she told her parents. Together they reported the matter to school authorities and law enforcement.

The decision to file the civil suit and go public was made after Stillitano decided she wasn’t getting help from the school district.

Since coming forward with her story, other students have also come forward to share their experiences with the teacher, Stillitano’s attorney Brian Schiller said.

Stillitano’s lawsuit includes claims from two other students who said the teacher touched them inappropriately at school as far back as 17 years ago. A third said they witnessed it on others.

After the allegations were first made in the 2019 lawsuit, Timberlane Middle School reported the incident to the Hopewell Township Police Department. Amantia was placed on administrative leave but was not criminally charged.

In a legal certification filed in response to the lawsuit, Amantia said the allegation was “preposterous when it was first made, it was preposterous when a different version of it was articulated a year later, and it remains preposterous now that it has been repeated in a civil lawsuit – all three versions differing.”

In a legal response, the school district denied claims that it failed to take action to protect the teen.

“The Defendants look forward to cooperating in a full investigation of these new claims, as well as a full investigation through the civil litigation process of all the allegations that Sara and her attorneys have leveled against them over the last five years," the school district and Amantia said in their filing.

The attorney for Amantia and the school district filed a motion in May to quash the subpoenas filed by Schiller for past law enforcement investigations filed on the teacher.

On Sept. 14, the Superior Court ordered a stay on the matter, pending investigation by the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office.

Healing From The Ordeal

In 2019, Stillitano moved to a private school. “I repeated my sophomore year again, not because of grades or anything, but because I wanted to give myself a chance at a normal school year.”

Throughout her sophomore years, Stillitano was distant from friends and found it difficult to connect with people her age.

“I was avoiding vulnerability. It was very hard for me at first to meet a bunch of new people, because I was not public with any of this. So I felt like I was hiding that part of my life," Stillitano said.

After school, Stillitano’s time was occupied with meeting lawyers, talking with the police and dealing with what had happened to her. During her junior year, Stillitano began talking to her friends about "what happened to me and about the legal stuff.”

“During quarantine, I had time to sit with myself, and I realized I needed to be comfortable with what happened to me. I let myself be open, be vulnerable. And everyone has been extremely supportive – something that I lacked for a long time.”

The environment at the new school, and making new friends made Stillitano feel safe.

“Without my support network at the new school and my parents, I don’t think I would be talking about this. It goes to show how important teachers, counselors and administrators are to a growing individual," Stillitano said.

Stillitano counts her mother among her best friends but admits that it was initially difficult to speak about what happened. But over time, she became more comfortable sharing her ordeal.

“As a family, we really lean on one another. Don’t get me wrong, there's a lot of sadness and anger. It’s really hard to deal with something like this, especially when you don't have much direction,” Stillitano said.

“I feel like just this past year and a half, we've reached a point where we're used to the ups and downs, and we can bounce back from them a lot easier. We are confident in our ability to rely on one another, and be able to reconcile and move on," Stillitano said.

The experience has also brought Stillitano and her sister closer.

“She's always good with humor, so if I ever need anyone to cheer me up, she's always good," Stillitano said.

Currently settled in college, Stillitano wants to be an advocate for children who went through similar experiences and are unable to speak up.

“I hope to shine a light on the injustices that have occurred and the far-reaching consequences that it has had on children and their families over the years. And I would like to say that, while this is immensely difficult for me as an individual – I know how hard it is for a community to reflect on this information,” Stillitano said in a written statement.

“It’s not easy to accept and address the issues we wish were not true. But I’m asking you to look at your children, your friends, your students... and listen to them, believe them," said Stillitano. "And for anyone who experienced or witnessed this abuse, know that it’s not too late.”

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