RHODE ISLAND
Newport Daily News

December 4, 2020

By Sean Flynn

A woman filed a lawsuit this week in U.S. District Court against Portsmouth Abbey School and a former teacher with a claim the teacher sexually abused her while she was a student at the preparatory school.

The former student is listed as “Jane Doe” because public disclosure would further harm her and her family, according to the lawsuit.

She was sexually abused by her former humanities teacher, Michael Bowen Smith, between 2012 and 2014, her sophomore, junior and senior years at the school, says the 17-page lawsuit, which details how the abuse began and ended.

Jane Doe is represented by attorney Timothy J. Conlon of Providence, who signed the lawsuit.