RHODE ISLAND
People
BY CHRIS HARRIS @chrisharrisment 01/06/2016
Two New England attorneys are saying they’ve been in touch with more than 40 alumni of an affluent Rhode Island boarding school that allege staff members or other pupils sexually assaulted them during the 1970s and 1980s.
PEOPLE spoke Wednesday with Eric MacLeish, one of the two lawyers behind a press conference held on Tuesday in which four graduates of the St. George’s School in Middletown accused school officials of covering up years of systemic abuse.
“I have never run across anything like this,” MacLeish, who has spent his career representing victims of childhood sexual abuse, tells PEOPLE; he’s a St. George’s alum.
“Officials were not reporting claims from students but instead, imposing gag orders on those victims,” MacLeish explains. “There are prosecutable crimes that occurred here and I expect more victims will be coming forward.”
At Tuesday’s press conference, MacLeish and his co-counsel, attorney Carmen Durso, issued a 36-page response to findings released by St. George’s headmaster, Eric Peterson, and the school’s Board of Trustees back in December.
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