Family Alleges Sexual Assault Cover-up In $5M Notice Of Claim Against Lawrence HS

CEDARHURST, NY. — The family of a Lawrence High School student has started the process of suing the district, multiple administrators and a substitute teacher in the district, alleging in a court filing that district officials attempted to silence the student’s report of a sexual assault against them by a substitute teacher.

The Notice of Claim dated Friday lists the Lawrence Union Free School District, Superintendent Dr. Ann Pedersen, Principal Jennifer Lagnado-Papp, Vice Principal Ryan Armstrong and Substitute Teacher Constantine Theodosiou as co-defendants.

The notice of claim alleges that a combination of unwanted sexual advances by Theodosiou and an effort to cover up those advances by district administrators not only violated the student’s civil rights but also left the student suffering from anxiety, depression, distress, humiliation and loss of feelings of self-worth. Furthermore, the notice of claim reads that the student has suffered emotional, mental, physical and psychosocial fallout from the event and the district’s response, and says that the family is seeking no less than $5 million from the defendants.

Theodosiou was arrested and charged with forcible touching, endangering the welfare of a child and third-degree sexual abuse on Feb. 10, and entered a not guilty plea the following day.

According to reports by News 12 Long Island, the district alerted parents of the incident in a letter. In that letter, which News 12 obtained, the district said that administrators had called law enforcement immediately upon being made aware of the incident.

The notice of claim filed by the student’s family, however, tells a different story.

In the notice of claim, the student’s family claims that Theodosiou made multiple sexual advances toward the student, inappropriately grabbing their private area on one occasion and calling them “rude and disrespectful” when they told him to stop.

The complaint further says that when the high school junior attempted to report the Theodosiou incident to district administrators, they threatened the student with disciplinary action and attempted to dismiss the complaint.

It was at this time, the complaint reads, that the student called their mother to tell her about the incident. According to the complaint, district officials had not made the student's mother aware of the incident that had been reported.

The complaint reads that, upon being made aware of the incident, the student’s mother called the police herself, an account that differs from the one previously reported by the district.

In a conversation with Patch Tuesday, Vess Mitev, the Stony Brook-based attorney for the family, said his clients are “extraordinarily distraught” after the events they claim transpired.

“My clients are extraordinarily distraught in the way this was mishandled,” Mitev told Patch Tuesday. “They believe it was mishandled on purpose, and we look forward to holding each and every person accountable to the fullest extent of the law — Both the education law, which requires immediate prompt reporting of such acts, and under any criminal or penal law that would criminalize the failure to do so.”

Theodosiou was in court Monday for a conference, and is due back in court Apr. 3. John Frederick Carman, the attorney representing Theodosiou in his criminal proceedings, did not immediately respond to requests for comment Tuesday. Patch also attempted to reach a spokesperson for the school district Tuesday but received no immediate response.