NEW: RI State Police Says St. George's Investigation Expanding

GoLocalProv News Team and Kate Nagle

NEW: RI State Police Says St. George's Investigation Expanding

RI State Police Colonel Steve O'Donnell told GoLocal that the State Police investigation was expanding although he would not comment on the number of individuals being investigated for sexual assault at St. George's prep school in Middletown, RI.

"We're not commenting -- it could change daily," said O'Donnell. "It all depends on what we find out.  It started November 1. Typically the more public it gets, the more victims come forward, and also people who corroborate what they're testimony. "

"Typically when we investigate it leads to a prosecution -- then a court would issue something at that time.  If it doesn't, it becomes something different.  There'll either be indictments or charges.  What can be released and what needs to be redacted will be determined at that time," said O'Donnell. 

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Previously, 23 victims have come forward, but one of the lawyers for the victims, Carmen Durso, tells GoLocal that that number has risen to at least 40.

"We currently have two detectives who are assigned to this investigation.  They've got supervisors who will review the work," said O'Donnell.

As GoLocal previously reported on December 27th:

St. George’s, the exclusive prep school in Middletown, Rhode Island which reports assets of over $200 million, has admitted that after decades of denial that at least 23 students were molested by multiple faculty and staff.

St. George’s, which sits high above Second Beach and claims one of the most picturesque campuses in the world, has a long list of high profile alumni including John Nicholas Brown, actress Julie Bowen, Bill Bush, Tucker Carlson, many of the Astors, Senator Claiborne Pell and poet Ogden Nash.

On December 23, in the midst of the holiday week, the school released a letter to alumni including a report that admitted widespread sexual abuse. The report prepared by the law firm Schwartz Hannum admits that at least six staffers were involved in sexual abuse, but only named one of the former employees — Al Gibbs.

Report Released

The lead attorney on the review William E. Hannum III, Managing Partner of the firm, is a graduate of the prep school Deerfield Academy which also had a high profile sexual abuse case. Many alumni question Hannum’s independence and therefore the value of the report.

Gibbs was an athletic trainer at St. George’s from 1973 to February 1980, when he was dismissed after a male student discovered Gibbs photographing a nude female student in the athletic training room. Gibbs passed away in 1996. 

“Based on seventeen first-hand accounts (by students from the Class of 1976 through the Class of 1982), Gibbs engaged in a range of inappropriate behavior and sexual misconduct including kissing two female students publicly, telling students to remove their clothes without reason, taking nude photos of three students (and in some cases showing such photos to other students), fondling or grabbing the breasts of seven different students, touching the genitals of three students, and in one case rape.”

The report says, “Regrettably, the School did not report misconduct by Gibbs to any state agency at the time of his termination in 1980."

The other five abusers were not named in the report released by St. George’s. Also, the report unveils there were student abusers and none of them were named.

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