Source: (PHOTO: WISH-TV)
INDIANAPOLIS –The parents of a student with special needs who they say was sexually assaulted and raped at Hamilton Southeastern Schools filed a lawsuit on Tuesday.
The family’s attorneys say the 13-year-old student, referred to as “James” in the lawsuit, has autism, a language impairment, and an intellectual disability.
Because of the severity of his disabilities, James was placed in a fully self-contained special education classroom at a junior high school within the Hamilton Southeastern School Corporation. His parents assured him he would receive extensive supervision, care, and support.
Attorneys say the child was forced over 10 times to perform sex acts on another student in the bathroom of an HSE junior high school between August 2023 and January 2024.
Earlier this year, school counselors contacted the boy’s parents about “worrisome behavior” from another student toward James. When his parents asked him about it, James got very anxious and upset and didn’t say anything.
After a meeting at the school about a field trip around a week later, James reportedly pointed to a school bathroom and told his dad that “that is where he was raped and forced to have sex.” Later that night, James told his parents he had been “forcefully sexually assaulted” at school.
The lawsuit filed on Tuesday names Hamilton Southeastern School Corporation as a defendant, along with Superintendent Patrick Mapes, Principal Crystal Thorpe, Assistant Principal Tige Butts, Teacher Helen Estep, Title IX Coordinator Jimmie Lake, and Guidance Counselor Basel Maarouf.
The lawsuit doesn’t specify the exact school where the abuse allegedly happened, but records show that Crystal Thorpe was the Principal at Fishers Junior High School during the 2023-24 school year.
