Citadel President: We Didn’t Do What We Should Have Done, by Adam Crisp, The Patch, November 18, 2011

Citadel President: "We Didn’t Do What We Should Have Done"

By Adam Crisp
The Patch
November 18, 2011

http://westashley.patch.com/articles/citadel-president-we-didn-t-do-what-we-should-have-done#photo-8447496

Citadel President Lt. Gen. John W. Rosa addresses the media Monday regarding former cadet and accused child molester Louis "Skip" ReVille. Credit Adam Crisp

CHARLESTON — Citadel officials now admit they did not do enough in 2007 to stop Louis “Skip” ReVille from abusing more children, and now the school has turned over to Charleston police all documents relating to the now four-year-old sex-abuse accusation against ReVille.

That report, in part, accuses ReVille, a Citadel cadet in 2002, of viewing pornography and masturbating with a teenage summer camp participant. The teen accuser came forward five years after the incident in question.

In 2007, Citadel officials dispatched its general counsel to meet with the accuser’s family and the teenager, but the case didn’t move forward.

“We didn’t do what we should have done,” said Citadel President Lt. Gen. John W. Rosa during a Monday press conference. “We tell cadets to go beyond enforcing the rules — to do what’s right. We are confronted with an investigation from 2007 in which I do not believe we met that standard.”

In addition to asking for police intervention, the Citadel has hired an outside firm, Guidepost Solutions, to review how the incident was handled and to report back to the school.

Reversing its previous course with the media, Rosa said now the school will directly address media inquiries.

In late October, ReVille was arrested on multiple sex-abuse charges involving illicit contact with teenage boys.

Now, ReVille faces a total of 14 sex-abuse charges between Mount Pleasant and Berkeley County, authorities have said. Not counting this 2007 accusation, at least 11 children have been identified as ReVille’s victims.

ReVille is being held in the Charleston County jail on more than $1 million in bail. He reportedly has admitted to the charges and has led police to at least some of the victims.

Rosa said he never saw the entire report that fully detailed the 2007 sex allegations. He believed the young accuser simply wanted to attend the Citadel as a college freshman and that the sex abuse claim was presented as part of a “settlement claim.”

“He didn’t have his qualifications,” Rosa said. “We were going to help him complete the courses he needed. …We made that recommendation, and that’s when we never heard from the family again.”

Rosa said that was a mistake, and that late last week, upon seeing the full report and the interviews with the family and the accuser, he realized the case was likely criminal in nature and should have been handled differently.

Instead, when contact with the family faded, the school simply did nothing.

The victim’s family, who resides in Texas, believed the school was pursuing criminal charges, according to their attorney Mullins McLeod, who held a press conference just minutes before the school met with reporters.

“When children come forward and do the right thing, we as adults need to do the right thing,” McLeod said. “The people in charge at the Citadel did not do the right thing.”

The school on Monday made available all the documents pertaining to ReVille, his time at the military college and the allegations leveled by the summer camper. The 160-plus page report, according to McLeod, lays out a clear example of “pedophilia.”

McLeod said his clients in 2007 simply wanted the school to prevent ReVille from abusing more youngsters. They sought counseling after speaking with school leaders, and they left feeling certain the school was handling the case.

“Had the Citadel in 2007 come forward and reported the facts … what we are seeing now as a community may never have happened,” McLeod said. “The family I represent is distraught beyond description, because they left that meeting with the Citadel and they had every reason to believe the Citadel would report (ReVille) to law enforcement.”

Rosa said the school in 2007 was not mandated by law to make sex-abuse reports. McLeod said South Carolina has since 1981 required colleges to report sex-abuse allegations.

“But that’s no excuse,” Rosa said. “We should have reported it.”

Just 72 hours into getting all the facts, Rosa did not eliminate the possibility that there could be a staffing shake-up at the state's military college.

The attorney that conducted the investigation in 2007 and reported back to Rosa was not at Monday’s press conference, and the college has retained outside legal advice on this case, he said.

“We’re early on in this case… finding new information,” Rosa said. “We’ll handle this swiftly.”