MICHIGAN
WOOD
[with video]
Barton Deiters
Published: March 14, 2017
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — The lawsuit against the Catholic Diocese of Grand Rapids and schools by the teen victim of sexual abuse by a tutor has been dismissed.
That includes the case against the tutor, 34-year-old Abigail Simon, who remains in the state women’s prison.
The spectacular 11-day trial in November 2014 was the subject of national attention — due in no small part to Simon’s defense that she was the victim of rape by a 15-year-old Grand Rapids Catholic Central High School student, not the other way around. But evidence including recorded phone messages and thousands of text messages convinced a jury that Simon was the sexual aggressor. She was convicted of four felony charges and sentenced to prison for eight to 25 years.
About a year after the conviction, the victim filed a lawsuit against the school, its leaders and the diocese, which oversees the schools.
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