Nun Accused of Sex Abuse at Middletown School

By Frank Esposito
Journal News
December 9, 2019

https://www.recordonline.com/news/20191209/nun-accused-of-sex-abuse-at-middletown-school

A nun is accused of sexually abusing a young girl at a Middletown school before moving on to higher positions at schools around Westchester County, according to court documents.

Sister Ann Peterson is accused of groping and molesting then-10-year-old Pamela Hayes at Saint Joseph School in Middletown throughout the mid-1960s, according to court documents.

The lawsuit accused Peterson of asking Hayes to stay after school and then abusing her by kissing and putting her hands under her clothes and fondling her, according to court documents filed under New York’s Child Victims Act.

The order Peterson belongs to — The Ursulines — worked with the now defunct College of New Rochelle, where Peterson was a board member until its closing earlier this year.

Her order also runs two other secondary education facilities in New York, The Ursuline School in New Rochelle — where Peterson served as principal in the 1970s — and the Academy of Mount St. Ursula in the Bronx.

The Ursuline School’s website currently lists Peterson as a member of the board of trustees at the school.

Peterson also served as advisory board member for Senior Care for the Maryknoll Fathers and Brothers, according to her biography page on the College of New Rochelle’s old website.