St. Louis Injury Lawyer Blog

A resident of Lake St. Louis, Missouri has been arrested and taken to St. Charles County Jail for sexually abusing two children.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that the 45-year-old perpetrator had repeatedly molested two girls under age 12 for years. Another article by KMOV St. Louis states that the man was arrested on Dec. 15, and that criminal investigators are charging him with 10 counts of sexual abuse. Police do not believe that the perpetrator molested any other children.

According a report published in 2009 by the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, 5,226 children from Missouri were victims of child abuse in 2009. 1,492 -- or 28.5 percent -- of those children were victims of sexual abuse.

Continue reading "Lake St. Louis, Missouri Man Arrested for Child Molestation" »

A former Alton School District employee is headed to prison for engaging in sexual relations with a minor under his supervision as a teacher.

According to an article in The Telegraph, a local newspaper based in Alton, Illinois, the defendant received a six-year prison sentence in the criminal case. Judge Charles Romani, Jr. presided over the case in Madison County Circuit Court. It is alleged that the defendant committed similar offenses in O'Fallon, Illinois public schools prior to becoming employed in Alton.

This inappropriate behavior by a teacher, a person in a position of trust, led to a sexual assault civil suit against the band director and school district. WWF&G attorney Thomas O. Falb represented the plaintiff--the mother of the underage victim--in the case of Doe v. Alton School District.

The Alton High School student was referred to as Mary Doe. The case ended prior to trial due to a confidential settlement reached between both parties. Falb's suit had demonstrated that a long-term friendship between the teacher and student that existed outside of the bounds of school developed into a sexual relationship.

According to a Juvenile Justice Bulletin published by the U.S. Department of Justice, 95 percent of statutory rape victims are female and 99 percent of perpetrators are male.

Continue reading "Alton High School Band Director Receives Prison Sentence" »

Recently, two school districts in Madison County, Illinois, Granite City and Alton, have come under scrutiny because of improper relationships between teachers and students. Parents have brought suit for damages suffered by their children. Further criminal prosecutions have taken place where teachers have suffered severe penalties.

Both of these school districts are public. Public schools are harder to prosecute in civil court due to the fact that the State of Illinois has what is known as the "Tort Immunity Act," which school attorneys argue gives them immunity for hiring a teacher who has a background of sexual misconduct or even retaining the teacher instead of terminating upon notice of improper conduct. These schools have also argued that the schools are immune from negligence (using ordinary care) when supervising activities on school property, so that, at most, the school can only be held responsible for willful and wanton misconduct in supervision of students and teachers. In other words, they argue they are only responsible for exercising reckless disregard for the safety of the student.

Continue reading "Granite City, Alton, Illinois School Districts' Problems with Teachers and Unprofessional Conduct with Students" »

Last Thursday former Saline Township Supervisor Alvin Steiner was accused in yet another sexual misconduct suit. This suit marks the fifth brought against the former Township employee since January by women who claim that Steiner tried to grope and kiss them when they came to his office seeking financial aid.

According to the Belleville News-Democrat, the fourth woman to file a suit, Laura B. Barry, stated that she never followed up on her aide request because Steiner's original advances had made her too uncomfortable. The suit has also charged other Township employees were aware of Steiner's behavior but made no actions to report or prevent them.

Continue reading "Former Saline Township Supervisor Faces Allegations of Sexual Misconduct" »