La Salle probes attack claims

By Robert Gavin
Albany Times Union
September 23, 2014

http://www.timesunion.com/local/article/La-Salle-probes-attack-claims-5776146.php

Albany

La Salle Institute officials are investigating allegations made by a former student who said he was repeatedly sexually abused by a teacher more than 20 years ago at the Catholic school in Troy.

On Tuesday, the school identified the teacher as Norman E. Rioux, a former Spanish teacher at the school.

Rioux, 82, was hired at the school despite being convicted of federal charges in U.S. District Court for a check-cashing scheme that La Salle officials now say they did not know about.

Rioux, listed on the adjunct faculty of Norwich University in Vermont, could not be reached.

La Salle's director of advancement, Karen Rappleyea, said the allegations made Monday by former student Michael Cioppa, now 39, were being reviewed.

"The La Salle Institute is dedicated to the safety and well-being of each student," she said in a statement.

"We take any reports of abuse and misconduct very seriously and under no circumstances do we tolerate inappropriate relations between employees and students. We have the utmost sympathy for anyone who has experienced sexual abuse, and we will cooperate fully with any investigation of this matter."

In 1986, Rioux was sentenced to federal prison for a check scheme that cost several banks more than $72,000. When asked, La Salle spokeswoman Liz Grimes said Rioux was hired in October 1989, "at which time La Salle was unaware of his prior conviction."

Grimes said at that time, "standard hiring practices included reviewing an applicant's resume and calling previous employers and references who validated the job candidate's credentials and experience, all of which was done in Mr. Rioux's case. If La Salle had any knowledge of the previous financial charges brought against Mr. Rioux, he would have not been hired."

On Monday, Cioppa told reporters he was abused in Rioux's apartment on Saturday mornings designated for tutoring. Cioppa said he came forward, but the school's then-chaplain, the Rev. Salvatore "Sam" Rodino, now suspended on unrelated sexual abuse allegations, told him to keep quiet.

Cioppa said Rioux was quietly ousted years later, only after Cioppa learned his younger brother was about to get the teacher at La Salle and reported the abuse to his father. Cioppa said he later reported the abuse to Bishop Howard Hubbard, but nothing was done.

The Albany Roman Catholic Diocese has referred the allegations to Rensselaer County prosecutors.