2nd Woman Says She Was Sexually Assaulted By LI School Principal

RIVERHEAD, NY — A second woman has come forward and claimed that she was sexually assaulted by a Riverhead High School principal, according to attorney John Ray.

Ray, of Miller place, sent a release out Friday, which said that Principal Charles Regan, who was administratively reassigned after explosive charges that he sent thousands of "sexually charged" texts, as well as half-naked photos, to a student, before he sexually assaulted her in his office, is also accused of sexually assaulted a 16-year old student at the Eastport-South Manor School District while employed there 17 years ago.

“Sex predator Principal Charles Regan has long sexually preyed upon students and others in a variety of Long Island public schools with the knowledge and toleration of responsible school professionals,” Ray said. “One of Regan’s victims was sexually assaulted by him in the Eastport-South Manor Public School . . . when Regan was a teacher and basketball coach and she was a 16 year-old student. She was plied with alcohol and cajoled into sex with him several times,” Ray said.

He added: “Eastport administrators knew of this. They did nothing. Now, this is finally coming to light. There are other student victims and employees. This is certain,” Ray said. “We urge them to have the courage to come forward now.”

The Eastport-South Manor did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Ray, Mitev & Associates, LLP filed a notice of claim on May 16 against Regan, Eastport-South Manor Central School District, and all superintendents, administrators, principals and their employees and/or agents from 1997 through 2002 on behalf of the woman; they will be seeking $20 million, a release said.

The notice of claim also states that Regan, then a special education teacher and her basketball coach, groomed the teen "for illicit sexual purposes. He was frequently with her in and out of school, solicited her attention, grossly overreached her, befriended her, counseled her, became her mentor, took her and other female students to the beach, to watch him surf and beguile them," the notice of claim states, adding that he also used "sexual innuendos."

According to Ray, the woman, now in her mid-30s, "struggled" for years before deciding to come forward; she refuses to give her name or speak publicly at a press conference, he said.

But, Ray said, the claims are "pretty shocking. What he did to her is worse than what he did to Anastasia [Stapon] by far."

The new woman to come forward, Ray told Patch, told him that the principal "brought her to a Knicks game — he had her pay for the tickets and then reimbursed her, because he was hiding it — got her drunk on beer and then compelled her to have oral sex."

The girl said that she and Regan had intercourse three times when she was 17, Ray said.

Today, the notice of claim said, the woman is 35 years old: "She has been destroyed. Her coach who had been her mentor, her hero, is in fact just a pervert who used his power over her to ensnare her in his dirty sexual traps. She was especially defenseless, a sitting target for a predator."

Regan, the notice of claim said: "sexually battered...sexually abused her, and raped her. She was dazed, overwhelmed, and helpless. Respondent did nothing to prevent this. Regan was not even suspended from employment."

Ray said there is another woman "waiting to come forward . . . and it's even worse. She was 14. This is what I see as the secular equivalent of the Catholic Church. These public schools are coddling and protecting these men," Ray said.

According to a notice of claim filed on May 6, high school senior Anastasia Stapon, from January until the present, was sent thousands of explicit texts and photos by Regan.

"Anastasia is an 18-year old student and athlete at Riverhead High School. She has been destroyed. Her principal, who had been her mentor, her hero, is in fact just a pervert who used his power over her to ensnare her in his dirty sexual traps," a statement by Stapon's attorney Ray said. "Charles Regan learned that she is an adopted child from Russia who, in her senior year, suffered deep depression and turned to weed and alcohol. She was especially defenseless, a sitting target for a predator."

According to Ray, "pretending to counsel her, sexual deviant Regan deluded her into complete dependence, isolating her from her family, friends and school counselor," moving her sister out of the district to Sagamore. "He led Anastasia astray into sexual fantasies. . urging her to have sex with him," Ray said. "He sent her sexually charged pictures of him undressed, all the while deluding her into the passionate belief that he loved her. . .Then he sexually assaulted her in his office during school. He pulled her by the neck into his embrace and shoved his tongue into her mouth."

The suit against Regan, the district, the superintendent and the board of education, is seeking damages of $10 million.

"I thought he was trying to support me and get me to that better place because that's what he told me for a very long time," Stapon said of Regan during a press conference Monday, according to a New York Post report. "And then during my spring break, it got definitely a lot more hot and heavier."

The notice of claim also alleges that Regan, 48, had a history "as a pervert and child seducer" in his former position at the Eastport South Manor School District — and made "homicidal threats" to students who showed an interest in Stapon.

"He's a sexual predator; he groomed this little girl," Ray said. "This guy saw a mark in her because she was depressed and he pretended he was going to help her but in reality he used it to groom her for sexual perversion."

Ray shared numerous sexually explicit texts and photos of Regan, shown half-clothed, one with just a pink towel draped over himself, with Patch.

Regan, Ray added, sent thousands of texts to the teen in a single month and used to meet with her in his office daily "in 45-minute clips. He made her very co-dependent," he said.

Regan, who is married with two children, has been "administratively reassigned," Riverhead Superintendent Aurelia Henriquez said in a statement on the district's website.

"Mr. Regan will not be at the high school pending the investigation. In the interim, Assistant Principal Sean O'Hara will serve as acting principal," the statement says.

Henriquez said the district is "prohibited from sharing further details" on the allegations made against Regan, who makes $187,693 a year as principal.

An attorney for Regan could not be reached for comment.