HARRISBURG – A Chambersburg woman alleges she was sexually molested by her then-high school chemistry teacher over a six-month time period in 2021 and 2022, and that the school district lacked adequate policies and procedures for the protection of its students.
B.P. and her parents Anthony and Kristen P. filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania on July 31 versus Chambersburg Area School District, its Superintendent Dion Betts, its Assistant Superintendents Mark Long, Janilyn Elias and Kurt Widmann and Benjamin A. Duran-Tobias. All parties of Chambersburg.
“Beginning in approximately October of 2021 and continuing until April 2022, Duran-Tobias engaged in inappropriate physical/sexual contact with Ms. P. Duran-Tobias’s victimization of Ms. P. began in October of 2021 when he returned from paternity leave. At the beginning of the 2021 school year, Ms. P. was assigned to a seat within Duran-Tobias’s classroom in a corner far from his desk. Following his return from paternity leave, Duran-Tobias inexplicably moved Ms. P.’s seat directly next to his desk. At around the same time, Duran-Tobias began asking Ms. P. personal questions about her life, including asking her whether she had ‘matured quicker’, which she understood to mean whether she had begun menstruating at an early age. Duran-Tobias also began leaving notes to Ms. P. on her desk complimenting her physical appearance,” the suit says.
“Duran-Tobias also began asking Ms. P. to come to his classroom outside of her chemistry class period. Duran-Tobias also began to request that Ms. P. spend her study hall period each day in his classroom, where he would write notes to Ms. P. Duran-Tobias further began contacting Ms. P.’s prep period proctor to ask that the teacher send Ms. P. to his classroom during her prep period. Beginning around January and February of 2022, Duran-Tobias became increasingly more inappropriate with conversation, including, asking whether Ms. P. ever wore tight, revealing clothing, offering his opinion on which prom dress she should select, and stating that he had emailed her because he ‘missed [her]’. Also in January or February of 2022, Duran-Tobias began to ask Ms. P. to stay after school with him in his classroom, which occurred approximately two to three times per week. On one occasion during class, a fellow student made a comment aloud that Ms. P. had a ‘big butt’. In response, Duran-Tobias wrote Ms. P. a note stating that the student was ‘not wrong’, expressing agreement with the student’s statement.”
The suit adds Duran-Tobias requested to see photographs of the minor plaintiff in her prom dress, commented on her figure and on March 1, 2022, sexually assaulted her in his classroom – allegedly grabbing her buttocks, fondling her breasts and rubbing her vagina.
The suit continues that that Duran-Tobias committed a second sexual assault upon the minor plaintiff one week later, on March 8, 2022, where he allegedly grabbed her buttocks, pulled her onto his lap, moved her hips while on top of him, lifted her top and bra, sucked on her nipples for approximately 30 seconds, rubbed her vagina inside her clothing and then digitally penetrated her.
Following that subsequent assault, the suit says Duran-Tobias made the minor plaintiff swear to keep the knowledge of the alleged assaults a secret.
“On March 30, 2022, the District received a Safe2Say Something report from an anonymous source the detailing inappropriate comments and actions by Duran-Tobias toward multiple female students during the 2021-2022 school year, including Ms. P. On April 7, 2022, a ChildLine report regarding Ms. P. was made. On April 7, 2022, information regarding the sexual assault and harassment was reported to the District police. On April 8, 2022, Duran-Tobias was arrested and charged with two counts of aggravated indecent assault – forcible compulsion, two counts of intercourse/sexual contact with a student, one count of corruption of minors, one count of unlawful contact with a minor – sexual offenses, and one count of indecent assault without consent of another,” the suit states.
“On April 22, 2022, Long filed a ‘Discrimination/Sexual Harassment/Bullying/Hazing/Dating Violence/Retaliation Report Form’, an informal report of the sexual assault under Title IX. On April 22, 2022, the Title IX Coordinator filed a Title IX complaint on behalf of Ms. P. The Title IX complaint detailed that Duran-Tobias had also victimized other minor female students at the District’s high school, including R.B., M.S. and J.S. [Attorney] David Walker soon thereafter conducted an independent investigation of the allegations contained in the Title IX complaint.”
As part of his investigation, Walker conducted interviews with the minor plaintiff and multiple witnesses, and gathered evidence including Safe2Say Something reports, ChildLine reports, class seating charts and other pertinent documents.
Walker interviewed other students who corroborated both the minor plaintiff’s allegations of sexual assault by Duran-Tobias, and that he used grooming tactics on her and other female students at the school.
On Nov. 30, 2022, Duran-Tobias pled guilty to institutional sexual assault in school, indecent assault and corruption of minors, and was sentenced to a period of incarceration. During his hearing on that same day, he admitted to having “inappropriate conversations and physical contact” with Ms. P. and further admitted to “touching [Ms. P.] under her shirt” and touching her vagina.
The suit claims that as a result of the District’s failures, Duran-Tobias’s predatory nature was left unchecked and he was free to prey upon vulnerable minor students at Chambersburg Area High School.
For counts of civil rights violations and state-created danger under 42 U.S.C. Section 1983 and Monell respectively, discrimination under Title IX, negligence, intentional infliction of emotional distress, assault and battery and negligent infliction of emotional distress, the plaintiffs are seeking general and compensatory damages, punitive damages, attorney’s fees and such other relief as the Court deems just and equitable.
The plaintiffs are represented by Derek R. Layser and Melissa Paris Miller of Friedman Schuman, in Fort Washington.
The defendants have not yet secured legal counsel.
U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania case 1:23-cv-01276
From the Pennsylvania Record: Reach Courts Reporter Nicholas Malfitano at nick.malfitano@therecordinc.com