Rochester school district sued again over child sexual abuse allegations

By Steve Orr
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle
June 05, 2020

https://www.democratandchronicle.com/story/news/2020/06/05/rochester-ny-school-district-facing-another-child-victims-act-lawsuit-rcsd/3153414001/

Henry Hudson School 28 on Humboldt Street, in 2011. The building has since been renovated. Photo by Max Schulte

A former Rochester schoolteacher, was allowed to remain in the classroom for years after being accused of sexually abusing a student, has been sued by the young man who accused him two decades ago.

The boy’s mother reported the alleged abuse to the administration at her son’s elementary, Henry Hudson School 28, shortly after it took place, according to news reports from that era.

The principal reportedly told her that the teacher, David Heil, would be removed from service. But he was not. School officials also failed to inform child protective services or the police, as the law may have required, according to the news reports.

The boy’s mother happened to visit another city elementary school six years later and discovered Heil was teaching there. She called police, and Heil was subsequently charged, convicted and sent to prison.

The case was one of several in which Rochester school officials have been accused of failing to act on sexual abuse allegations.

The lawsuit, filed Tuesday in state Supreme Court in Monroe County, is the 14th brought against the Rochester City School District under provisions of the Child Victims Act. The act allows the revival of old child sexual abuse claims that had been blocked by New York’s statute of limitations.

Heil, who no longer teaches in the city, is the fifth Rochester school district employee to be accused in a CVA suit.

Only New York City’s massive school district has had more employees named in CVA suits, and only New York City and a suburban Buffalo school district have been sued more often than Rochester for alleged sexual abuse of its students.

The lawsuit argues the Rochester school district knew or should have known it was not safe for children to be alone with Heil.

The plaintiff was a boy of eight or nine when Heil, a second-grade teacher, sexually abused him on two occasions in 1999 or 2000 at the school, the court papers say. The elementary school is located on Humboldt Street in northeast Rochester.

The young man, who filed the lawsuit under a pseudonym, struggled in school after the abuse and had difficulty interacting with adult men in authority, according to one of his lawyers, Steve Boyd. The man continues to obtain mental-health therapy.

"The biggest thing is that still, on a daily basis, he feels shame and guilt over what happened," Boyd said. "He was between eight and nine years old when this happened. With a lot of these (abuse) survivors, and particularly with him, there’s a long outstanding mental and emotional scar even if they seek treatment."

Heil could not be reached for comment. A woman who answered the phone at a home believed to be his hung up on a reporter Thursday.

Heil steadfastly denied the allegations at the time.

The school district's spokesman, Carlos Garcia, declined comment Friday, saying policy prevent him from saying anything about pending litigation.

When asked about other CVA suits against the district in recent months, officials there have said they now have strong policies in place that should prevent incidents from occurring or ensure they are reported and investigated promptly.

Thirteen other suits have been filed against the district under the act, 10 of them focused on alleged sexual abuse of teenage students by Edwin Fleming, a former music teacher at East and West high schools. Those incidents occurred in the 1960's and '70's.

A Democrat and Chronicle investigation found district administrators had allowed Fleming to resign, and had not reported his conduct to police or other authorities, after a woman told them he'd raped her.

Two other elementary-school teachers and a school employee also have been sued under the act for alleged misconduct in the 1980's.

Boyd, whose office is in Buffalo, confirmed that the plaintiff is the same individual whose accusation led to Heil being criminally charged.

Heil, then 43 years old, was arrested in October 2006 on two felony counts of first-degree sexual abuse. The boy, who by that time was 16, told police Heil had thrust his hand down the boy’s pants and fondled his genitals on two occasions. 

It emerged in 2006 that after the boy’s mother had met with school officials six years earlier, Heil had been suspended from his duties at School 28.

The district reinstated him, however, and transferred him to Dr. Charles T. Lunsford School 19 on Seward Street, another elementary school. 

The school district notified the state education department of the allegations at the time, but that agency took no action that prevented Heil from teaching.

The school district did not notify police or child protective services of the matter because of a technicality that a judge later described as "legal gymnastics."

Heil, who denied fondling the boy, was convicted of both felony counts in October 2007. He was sentenced to three years in state prison.

Heil  was released in February 2010 after serving 2½ years when an appellate court ruled the trial judge had wrongly allowed a witness to give hearsay testimony.

In June 2010, before a re-trial could be concluded, Heil pleaded guilty to a single felony count. Because he’d already spent 2 ½ years in prison, he did not have to serve more time.

Even then, Heil maintained his innocence and said he’d only pleaded guilty to put the wrenching episode behind him.

"I know people would find it very hard to believe that someone would plead guilty to something he didn't do," Heil told a reporter then. "But I can't take this any further. The toll that it's taken on me and my family, the emotional toll and the financial toll, has been very great."

Though Heil is accused by name in the CVA court papers of abusing the plaintiff, he is not listed as a defendant in the case.