"Cosby accuser denies framing him, knowing key witness" by Michael R. Sisak Associated Press April 17, 2018
NORRISTOWN, Pa. — Bill Cosby’s chief accuser at his sexual-assault trial on Monday denied framing him and said she doesn’t know a key witness who plans to testify she spoke of leveling false accusations against a celebrity.
Andrea Constand told jurors she doesn’t ‘‘recall ever having a conversation with’’ Marguerite Jackson. Both women worked at Temple University around the time Constand says Cosby drugged and molested her at the comedian’s suburban Philadelphia home in 2004.
The defense plans to call Jackson as a witness and says she will testify that before Constand lodged her allegations against Cosby in 2005, Constand had mused to her about setting up a ‘‘high-profile person’’ and filing suit.
Jackson has said that she and Constand worked closely together, had been friends, and had shared hotel rooms several times.
Those records should be easy enough to check.
A judge blocked Jackson from testifying at last year’s trial, which ended in a hung jury, after Constand took the stand and denied knowing her.
Considering the racial component of the trial here, can't the term "hung jury" be changed to a more politically-correct and contemporary term? Maybe deadlocked?
At the time, Judge Steven O’Neill ruled Jackson’s testimony would be hearsay. Since then, prosecutors have told Cosby’s lawyers that Constand had modified her statement to acknowledge she ‘‘recalls a Margo.’’
Oh, no. You know what that means.
The judge has ruled that Jackson can take the stand at the retrial but indicated he could revisit the issue after Constand was finished testifying.
Jackson’s availability as a witness for Cosby could be crucial to a defense plan to attack Constand’s credibility and get jurors to believe she set up Cosby.
Cosby lawyer Tom Mesereau, who has called Constand a ‘‘con artist’’ who framed Cosby and then collected a $3.4 million settlement, asked her about Jackson during cross-examination on Monday. She again denied knowing her.
The defense lawyer then asked, ‘‘Did you ever fabricate a scheme to falsely accuse him for money?’’
‘‘No, sir,’’ Constand replied.
Yeah, it didn't happen at Duke.
Constand, 45, left the witness stand Monday after testifying for seven hours over two days.
She told jurors last week that Cosby knocked her out with pills and then sexually assaulted her.
Cosby, 80, says Constand consented to a sexual encounter.
If convicted, Cosby could get up to 10 years in prison on each of three charges of aggravated indecent assault.
On Monday, the defense tried to cast Constand as an opportunist who baited Cosby by feigning romantic interest in him. The defense said she spent late nights at the comedian’s home, drove four hours to see him at a casino, and called him twice on Valentine’s Day, about a month after the alleged assault.
The calls should be easy enough the check, what with the telecom and government data collection. Were the rest to be confirmed, her credibility would be gone.
Constand has testified that she saw the former TV star as a mentor and had previously rejected his advances. And she said her phone calls to Cosby were about basketball and had nothing to do with romance.
She didn't want his chocolate bar? That seems odd. It's akin to a crush on a teacher.
As for the calls, if true it shows bad judgement at the least. You keep calling him after he sexually assaulted you? At worst, it's like the girl who rejects you when asked for a date, but then turns around and teases you.
Phone records show Constand, the former director of women’s basketball operations at Temple University, made brief calls to Cosby around the time of a Temple home game on Feb. 14, 2004, the month after the alleged assault.
‘‘You think you called Mr. Cosby to talk about basketball?’’ Mesereau asked her.
Constand testified that she felt a duty to answer Cosby’s inquiries because he was a powerful alumnus and trustee.
Picking up where he left off Friday, Mesereau questioned Constand about inconsistencies in her police statements and prior testimony.
Mesereau said Constand told police in 2005 that she called Cosby from her university-issued cellphone just before she arrived at his house on the night of the alleged assault to ensure the gate would be open. But Constand’s phone records show she did not make any calls to Cosby’s mansion that month.
OMG!
Constand explained that she may have been mistaken, that there were times Cosby told her in advance that the gate would be open, and that she often reached him at another number.
Now it looks like she is the one lying.
Prosecutors have called to the stand five other women who said Cosby drugged and assaulted them, too. The defense has called the other accusers irrelevant to the case.
The Associated Press does not typically identify people who say they are victims of sexual assault unless they grant permission, which Constand has done.
--more--"
She sure looks like she is enjoying the attention, huh?
Related:
Judge in Bill Cosby trial to stay on
"Judge hints he may not allow Cosby quaalude testimony" by Michael R. Sisak Associated Press March 30, 2018
NORRISTOWN, Pa. — The judge in Bill Cosby’s sexual assault retrial hinted Friday that he could keep jurors from hearing the comedian’s prior testimony about giving quaaludes to women before sex, a potential blow to the prosecution’s plans to portray him as a serial predator.
Here is why he didn't offer them a drink:
"Heineken has removed a commercial for its light beer after some complaints that it was racist. The ad featured a bartender sliding a bottle of Heineken light. The bottle passes several black people before it arrives to a lighter-skinned woman. The tag line: Sometimes lighter is better. Hip-hop star Chance the Rapper on Sunday tweeted the commercial was ‘‘terribly racist.’’ He said he thought some companies were purposely ‘‘putting out noticeably racist ads so they can get more views.’’ In a statement, Heineken says while the ad was referencing Heineken Light, ‘‘we missed the mark.’’ Heineken drew praise last year for its ‘‘Open Your World’’ commercials, which featured people of different backgrounds discussing their viewpoints."
Judge Steven O’Neill said at a pretrial hearing that he won’t rule on the testimony until it’s brought up at the retrial, which is scheduled to begin April 9 in suburban Philadelphia.
Jury selection is scheduled to begin Monday as the 80-year-old Cosby faces charges he drugged and molested former Temple University athletics administrator Andrea Constand at his suburban Philadelphia home in 2004.
The quaalude testimony came from a deposition that was part of Constand’s civil suit against Cosby. It was included in the first trial that ended with a hung jury and prosecutors contend it is more evidence of his prior bad acts.
Cosby admitted in the testimony he gave quaaludes to a 19-year-old before having sex in the 1970s, but his lawyers say it’s irrelevant to the trial because there’s no evidence he gave his accuser the drug.
Coz!
District Attorney Kevin Steele said the testimony, along with the testimony of up to five additional accusers, bolsters their plan to portray Cosby as a serial predator. Those women weren’t allowed to testify at the first trial. Cosby’s lawyers plan to portray the accuser as a greedy liar who framed the comedian.....
There is no reason it can't be both!
--more--"
"Prosecutors and the defense began picking a jury for Bill Cosby’s sexual assault retrial Monday in a #MeToo era that could make the task more difficult. Analysts said the social- media movement that has produced sexual misconduct allegations against prominent men could cut both ways for the comedian, making some potential jurors more hostile toward him and others more likely to think men are being unfairly accused. ‘‘We really have had this explosion of awareness since that last trial, and it has changed the entire environment,’’ said Richard Gabriel, a jury consultant who has worked on more than 1,000 trials. ‘‘It is a huge challenge for the defense, but it could also provide an avenue and open up the topic.’’
Cosby retrial won’t be like the first one
"Prosecutor: Bill Cosby paid accuser nearly $3.4m" by Graham Bowley New York Times April 09, 2018
NORRISTOWN, Pa. — Bill Cosby’s entry at the courthouse was briefly interrupted by the protest of a topless woman, later identified as Nicolle Rochelle, a former actress who had appeared several times on “The Cosby Show.”
She jumped over a crowd barrier outside the courthouse and yelled “Women’s lives matter” before being wrestled to the ground by courthouse deputies about 10 yards in front of Cosby as he walked toward the building’s front doors.
Must everything reported in the paper be some sort of staged event for agenda-pushing purposes?
Rochelle, 38, of Little Falls, N.J., is a member of European feminist group Femen, which is known for staging topless protests, Rochelle said in an interview after her arrest on disorderly conduct charges. She is a performing artist and activist who now lives in Paris.
She had appeared on “The Cosby Show” in the early 1990s when she was 12 years old in a part as a friend of Cosby’s daughter on the show, Rudy. She said that nothing inappropriate had happened on the set with Cosby.
That's a relief, because from what I've read about Hollywood in the wake of Weinstein..... it's ruined the 1970s shows to which I retreat to escape the contemporary insanity of our times.
But now she said she wanted to express the anger of the other women and had chosen to do it topless so as to use her body as “a political tool.”
About a dozen other protesters also demonstrated outside the courthouse, an indication of how Cosby’s profile has changed since he was one of America’s most beloved entertainers.
His is the first high-profile sexual assault trial of the MeToo era, and experts are watching to see what effect the of harassment and assault against prominent men may have on the trial and on jurors’ attitudes toward sexual assault.
So the first one they try is a black man?
Wow!
Cosby, who has said the sex with Constand was consensual, was greeted by a handful of supporters, who shouted encouragement to him.
There are also expected to be crucial differences in how the retrial unfolds. At the first trial, for example, testimony was heard from just one other woman who said she was also drugged and assaulted by Cosby.
This time, O’Neill is allowing prosecutors to present the accounts of five additional women with similar accusations — a change that experts say will help bolster Constand’s credibility.
One of the additional accusers prosecutors want to call is Janice Dickinson, the former supermodel, who said Cosby drugged and raped her in Lake Tahoe in 1982.
That is what she told the jury.
The four other witnesses were, at the time, aspiring actresses or models, and in one case a bartender, who say they were assaulted by the entertainer between 1982 and 1989 — all incidents he denies.
Another key difference is that the defense is being allowed to introduce testimony from a Temple University academic adviser who says that Constand once told her that she could make money by falsely claiming that she had been molested by a prominent person.....
NO!!!
That then gives cover to the real perverts!
--more--"
Turns out she wanted to marry him and he said no.
Also see:
"Jurors on Tuesday got a sense of Bill Cosby’s view of consent from graphic deposition testimony in which the comedian described reaching an area ‘‘somewhere between permission and rejection’’ during what he claims was a prior sexual encounter with his chief accuser. He then described the purported encounter in extremely graphic terms that had several jurors with their hands to their chins, some of them looking taken aback, pained or disgusted....."
Doesn't look good for Bill.
***********
Should have offered her candy:
"Former Necco CEO wants to raise $20m to save the candymaker. So far, he’s got $565" by Katheleen Conti Globe Staff April 17, 2018
If the news that the maker of Necco Wafers could shut down as soon as next month has put you in a sour mood, you might be able to do something about it.
Ya' got that right!
Al Gulachenski, former chief executive of New England Confectionery Co. in Revere, has launched a crowdfunding campaign with the goal of raising $20 million to make a bid for the troubled candymaker. If he reaches that mark, Gulachenski says, he will donate an additional $5 million to $10 million “to do this right.”
By his own admission, collecting that much money is “a tall order.” Exceedingly tall. As of late Tuesday, Gulachenski’s GoFundMe page had collected $565. The fund-raising effort was first reported by candy wholesaler candystore.com, which itself has launched a social media hashtag movement — #SaveNECCO.
Last month, Necco’s chief executive Michael McGee notified Massachusetts officials and Revere’s mayor that the company would lay off 395 employees, the bulk of its workforce, including its executives, if it can’t find a buyer by May.
Gulachenski, who helmed the company from 2012 to 2014, said he started the crowdfunding campaign after reading about a woman who offered candystore.com her 2003 Honda Accord in exchange for the wholesaler’s entire stock of Necco Wafers. He has teamed up with some of the Necco executives who worked under him.
“I’ve lived in Massachusetts my whole life; I’ve been in manufacturing my whole career. I got involved in Necco because I believe in the fact that you can still manufacture something in Massachusetts and in the US,” Gulachenski said. “I became attached to it. It won’t sit right with me if I don’t give it the good old college try.”
This is actually Gulachenski’s second attempt to buy the candy manufacturer.....
I though it tasted familiar.
--more--"
Let's step back a minute:
"Florida woman says she offered her Honda Accord for a haul of Necco Wafers" by Steve Annear Globe Staff April 10, 2018
Unlike some people, Katie Samuels has fond memories of eating Necco Wafers, the chalky, multi-colored candies made by the New England Confectionery Co.
As a kid, Samuels and her siblings would play “church” at their grandmother’s house, placing the circular treats into their mouths as if they were taking Communion, she said.
So when the 23-year-old Florida resident learned recently that the Revere-based sweets manufacturer was at risk of closing down and laying off hundreds of its employees due to financial insecurities, she reached out to candy wholesaler Candystore.com to try and scoop up as many packages of the iconic sweets as possible.
Financial insecurities?
You mean debt?
Desperate times, as they say, lead to desperate measures.
“I offered to trade my 2003 Honda Accord for all of their stock,” she said by telephone Tuesday. “I knew it was kind of a silly thing to say, but I’m serious. I don’t have much right now, so I was like, ‘I’ve got this car, and I want all that candy, so maybe they would consider it.’ ”
Globe called her up and then Gulachenski read this story.
In March, Necco chief executive Michael McGee notified the state and Revere Mayor Brian M. Arrigo that 395 workers could be laid off if the candymaker can’t find a buyer. Necco, which has been producing wafers since 1847, is Revere’s largest employer.
News that the company — they’re also known for old-timey classics like those tooth-hugging Squirrel Nut Zippers and crunchy Sweethearts — could close by May allegedly sent people from across the country into Twinkie-hoarding mode.
The Wall Street Journal reported this week that candy connoisseurs have been maniacally calling up distributors, asking to buy products in bulk.
Candystore.com is calling it “The Great Necco Wafer Panic.”
Candy being used to induce fear.
Is nothing sacred anymore?
What is with these reporters pushing fear and guilt?
The business claims sales of wafers have jumped since the Globe first wrote about Necco’s financial troubles last month.
Maybe that was the point.
The "news article" was nothing more than a marketing scheme.
Samuels said while her e-mail — which included a picture of her black car — was sent slightly in jest, she would have parted ways with the Honda if it meant getting her hands on some candy.
Oh, she was only joking but not really?
Confused kid. Must be the sugar.
“It was my Granny’s favorite and she always had it at her house. When I saw on the Internet they aren’t going to make it anymore I was kind of freaked out,” she said. “My boyfriend has a car and he drives me everywhere anyways.”
Oh, the boyfriend has a car and you don't really need one, I see.
While Los Angeles-based CandyStore.com didn’t accept the offer, Samuels did make off with two packages — about 48 rolls total — of the wafers that she paid for on her credit card, she said.
That's when the printed Globe roll ran out, and she charged the candy?
“Maybe I’ll try to get more,” she said. “I guess what I said was kind of impulsive. . . . They thought I was crazy, but they were funny for even entertaining me.”
This unhappiness about the potential wafer-shortage seems to have extended all the way to Oregon, too.
Students from an elementary school there penned letters to Arrigo, Revere’s mayor, asking him to do something to spare the factory.
“You can help buy the Necco company so they are saved and not closed,” one student told the mayor, according to an employee at City Hall who read the plea to a Globe reporter by phone.
A second concerned student wrote, “employees won’t be able to find a job as fast to pay for their bills, and could even get their houses taken away.”
That ending would put a bad taste in the mouth of any candy fan.....
That's when I spit this out.
--more--"
************
"The question lurking just beneath the surface of this incident is as obvious as it is uncomfortable: Would this have played out the same way with an impaired but harmless white suspect? Obviously, the guy wasn’t armed. Yes, walking around naked is illegal, and I don’t doubt that Ohene alarmed people who encountered him. None of that is any reason to punch him. The use of excessive force on a black suspect is as old as American policing. But bystanders with cellphones captured this incident in real time. The commissioner says people shouldn’t be too quick to make judgments. But we now live in a world where everyone has already seen exactly what happened....."
Yup, and Coz could ask the same thing. Haven't seen any trials yet for all those white guys.
"Experts say use of force in Harvard student’s arrest followed protocol" by Jerome Campbell Globe Staff April 18, 2018
Experts on police tactics say officers followed established law enforcement protocol when they used force to subdue a Harvard student on a Cambridge street Friday night, an encounter that has prompted criticism from some city officials and the Harvard community.
I don't want to make you angry, but I will quickly saw that from what I saw that is absolutely right, so you kids move along now.
A video captured Cambridge and Transit Police tackling 21-year-old Selorm Ohene after calls reported him naked on a traffic island near the corner of Massachusetts Avenue and Waterhouse Street, and one officer is shown repeatedly punching Ohene as others struggled to handcuff him. Police said they took the “tactical decision” to bring down Ohene to “gain his compliance and place him in handcuffs.”
Maria Haberfeld, a professor of police science at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York, said the officers were adhering to standard police procedure.
“Unfortunately, there is nothing unusual about this,” Haberfeld said Tuesday.
Except for the naked guy in the middle of the street.
Cambridge police follow a set of guidelines called a “force continuum” referenced by Police Commissioner Branville G. Bard Jr. Monday as he defended the officers’ actions, outlining a scale of force used against a resisting individual.
These standards allow officers to respond in a range of ways, from establishing their presence at a scene to inflicting lethal force. If an individual resists a less severe action, police are trained to escalate the amount of force used.
In cases like Ohene’s, where a police report said two women told officers that he might be under the influence of LSD and not fully cognizant, Haberfeld said the continuum of force still applies.
That probably is unusual.
Over the past the two decades, the force continuum has been taught in police academies across the nation, Haberfeld said. After the Rodney King beating in 1991, alternative methods like deescalation techniques were adopted but they still exist on a continuum that can lead to use of force, she added.
Larry Ellison, president of the Massachusetts Association of Minority Law Enforcement Officers, said that while the encounter is difficult to watch, officers were doing their job.
“It’s as the old saying goes, ‘people like sausage, but they don’t like how it’s made,’ ” Ellison said. “Things could have went differently, but I’m not going to second-guess their decisions.”
Nor am I.
The situation was tricky, he said, because any responses would have drawn criticism. If they didn’t respond, then Ohene or a bystander could have gotten hurt, warranting the question: “Why didn’t they handle this?”
That is the question I have been asking: what if he ran into the road and was killed?
Then the Globe and others would be saying why didn't you take him into protective custody?
Furthermore, Ellison said police are trained to handle these situations in groups, in case the individual struggles free and grabs an officer’s weapon.
Another police expert said the punches may have been excessive.
Then again, maybe not.
The guy was writhing around on the ground screaming "Help me, Jesus! Help me, Jesus!"
“If I was investigating this, I wouldn’t find anything wrong besides, perhaps, the punches,” said Thomas Nolan, an associate professor of criminology at Merrimack College and a 27-year veteran of the Boston Police Department.
With Ohene unclothed, the police did not have anything to grab during the restraint, he said.
Additionally, officers would have still needed to restrain Ohene if paramedics were needed to transport him to the hospital.
“Otherwise, it was a expert textbook handling of the situation,” Nolan said.
On Tuesday, two Harvard Law School professors said they would represent Ohene. Professors Ronald F. Sullivan Jr. and Dehlia Umunna said Ohene would not provide a public account of what happened to him or be stepping into the public debate about whether police used excessive force during their encounter on Friday night.
How would he know or argue his case?
“He is currently recovering from injuries sustained during his encounter with the Cambridge Police Department,’’ the attorneys wrote in a joint statement. “This has been and continues to be a trying ordeal for Selorm and for his family.”
Maybe he will pass on the acid next time, huh?
Thankfully, none of the policemen were slain.
--more--"
The guy is lucky he wasn't tasered:
"Reversing course, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court on Tuesday struck down a state law banning civilian possession of stun guns. “We conclude that the absolute prohibition against civilian possession of stun guns . . . is in violation of the Second Amendment,” the court said. Stun guns are electronic devices, such as Tasers, that administer an electric shock to immobilize, but not kill, an individual. Law enforcement officials are exempt from the state ban....."
Well, that should make Alex Jones happy (my printed paper had the New York Times version of the attempt to stifle not only investigative inquiry, but free speech as they flog Florida five years later).
At least he wasn't shot:
"Boston officer gets probation for racially motivated attack of Uber driver" by Travis Andersen Globe Staff April 17, 2018
A veteran Boston police officer who assaulted an Uber driver in 2015 during a drunken, racially motivated attack avoided prison time Tuesday after the victim said he doesn’t “want the worst” for the suspended officer and urged him to seek treatment.
Michael Colin Doherty, 43, of South Boston, was sentenced in Suffolk Superior Court to three years of probation for the assault, which occurred in his neighborhood during the predawn hours of Jan. 4, 2015, while Doherty was off-duty.
He was convicted April 2. The Uber driver, Luis Blanco, gave a victim-impact statement Tuesday to Superior Court Judge Linda Giles before she sentenced Doherty.
Blanco, wearing a light pink collared shirt and dark slacks, at times struggled to maintain his composure, telling Giles his primary concern was for Doherty to receive “some type of treatment.”
“Mr. Doherty, I believe, definitely needs some help in terms of adjusting certain things in his life,” said Blanco, the father of a young child, adding that he has wondered “if this person was armed, would he have killed me that night?”
He said he doesn’t “want the worst for Mr. Doherty. I truly don’t. . . . An apology would be great.”
Doherty, clad in a dark pinstripe suit and black sneakers, did not address the court, since he plans to appeal, his lawyer said.
Giles sentenced him to three years of probation and ordered him to stay away from Blanco, remain alcohol-free, complete anger-management and alcohol treatment, and perform 100 hours of community service at the Greater Boston Food Bank.
She said she selected the food bank because it serves a racially diverse population.
“I’m hoping that that experience will raise Mr. Doherty’s consciousness,” Giles said.
The judge excoriated Doherty for his conduct during the assault but noted he had no prior criminal record and until his arrest had dedicated himself to public service, first as a correctional officer and then on the police force, where he “received many commendations and awards.”
Must have been the booze talking.
Suffolk District Attorney Daniel F. Conley’s office has said Doherty was a customer of Blanco when he assaulted him around 2:45 a.m., after shouting that he had driven to the wrong location.
“What, you think I’m stupid, you [expletive],” Doherty said, using a racial slur against Hispanics, according to prosecutors.
When Blanco stopped at East Second and M streets, Doherty began hitting him, forcing him out of the car and chasing him around the vehicle, according to the authorities.
Blanco waved down traffic for help, and when another man stopped, Doherty jumped in the Uber vehicle and drove off, prosecutors said. Jurors acquitted Doherty at trial of using a motor vehicle without authority.
He stole the car and drove drunk?
When he stopped the vehicle on East First Street, he got out and said to the passerby, “What do you want, you [expletive]?” using a racial slur against black people, officials have said.
He then began swinging at both men, knocking the driver to the ground, according to court filings.
Assistant District Attorney Andrew Doherty, no relation to the officer, on Tuesday sought a 2½-year prison term with six months to serve, and the balance suspended during a five-year period of probation.
The prosecutor said the assault “certainly does involve alcohol, it certainly did involve anger, but it also involved race. And race matters in Boston, it matters in 2018, and it matters for this case.”
Andrew Doherty said the attack speaks to “a larger discussion about race and violence in Boston” and that the sentence should demonstrate that a racially motivated assault is “a punishable offense that is intolerable.”
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Apparently, gender does not:
"Authorities are searching for an Uber driver who posted bail on a rape charge Friday but failed to turn in his passport as instructed and fled the country, officials said Tuesday. In a statement, the Massachusetts Trial Court said officials issued an arrest warrant Tuesday for Frederick Amfo, 30, after learning he had left the country. Amfo, most recently of Quincy, is charged with rape in an alleged assault that occurred in Weymouth on April 8, prosecutors said. It wasn’t clear whether Amfo was working an Uber shift at the time of the incident. Amfo was arraigned Friday in Quincy District Court and ordered held on $10,000 bail with the conditions that he stay away from the alleged victim, surrender his passport, and not work as a driver for Uber, Lyft, or any other ride-share or taxi company, prosecutors said. Amfo pleaded not guilty. His lawyer could not be reached for comment The Norfolk district attorney’s office said authorities learned something was amiss after Amfo posted bail Friday evening....."
So who is going to show you around now?
Can't even go over to the Starbucks for some coffee. Will have to go to Dunkin' instead.
"At Concord Academy, misconduct claims against former headmaster made public" by Danny McDonald Globe Staff April 17, 2018
Concord Academy has banned a former headmaster from its campus after a former student accused him of engaging in “inappropriately close conduct with her” while she attended the boarding school, then carrying on a sexual relationship with her immediately after she graduated.
In a letter sent to the school community Tuesday, Head of School Rick Hardy said a woman who attended the school during the 1960s had alleged that Russell Mead, her English teacher, engaged in inappropriate conduct with her. Mead was the school’s headmaster from 1971 to 1976.
The woman also confided to two classmates about a sexual relationship with Mead that began immediately after she graduated. The school’s investigators “corroborated this information with both of them,” Hardy wrote.
Hardy praised the woman “for her courage in coming forward.” She brought the misconduct accusations to the school’s attention last fall.
Mead, who was contacted as part of the investigation into the woman’s accusations, denied any misconduct, Hardy said.
“Despite his denial, we believe the alumna’s report to be true and stand with her,” Hardy said.
Mead “is no longer welcome on campus or at any” Concord Academy events, he wrote. The school has removed his photo from its website and revised his biography to “reflect what we have learned.”
Mead could not be reached for comment.
In spring 2016, Concord Academy launched a review of past sexual misconduct at the school after a former student accused a teacher of sexual misconduct in the early 2000s. That teacher, who denied the allegation, was placed on leave and decided not to return to campus.
In August 2016, Concord Academy announced it had ousted a teacher after he acknowledged sexual misconduct with a student that dated back decades. In a letter, English teacher Parkman Howe said he was asked to resign and leave campus because he had kissed a student twice more than 30 years ago.
The school’s investigation was conducted by former state attorney general Scott Harshbarger.
In May 2016, a Globe Spotlight report found that at least 67 private schools in New England have faced accusations since 1991 that staffers sexually abused or harassed more than 200 students.
“From the beginning of this investigation, we have focused on acknowledging our past mistakes with as much transparency as possible,” Hardy wrote. “Our aim has always been to foster a culture here on campus where our students are supported, guided, and empowered to speak out for themselves or on behalf of classmates.”
--more--"
Should have hired a woman instead.
I know it's a "consolation prize, but it’s a significant one."
Well, we have reached the finish line on another post.
Maybe this will brighten your day.
