RHODE ISLAND
Boston.com
By MICHELLE R. SMITH AP
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — At least one in five girls who attended the elite boarding school St. George’s in the 1970s was sexually abused by the same athletic trainer, according to a report issued Thursday documenting widespread abuse there.
An independent investigator looking at sexual abuse at the school found that at least 31 girls were abused by trainer Al Gibbs. The report also found nine other school employees sexually abused at least 20 other students in the 1970s and 1980s, and at least 10 additional students were abused by fellow students.
“In the 1970s and 1980s, St. George’s School betrayed the trust of the many St. George’s students who became the targets of sexual abuse when they came to the school, and likewise betrayed the trust of parents who sent those students to St. George’s with the expectation that it would be a safe place for them to live and learn,” according to the report by Boston lawyer Martin Murphy.
Murphy was hired in January by the school and the survivors’ group SGS for Healing.
Gibbs was fired in 1980 after being caught taking photographs of a naked girl in his office, but the report found that he was paid a $1,200 annual grant for “distinguished service” that continued until he died in 1996. The school acknowledged in December that he abused 17 students, but the report said that number was at least 31.
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