mobanmarketPENNSBURG, PA — A young child was repeatedly sexually assaulted by an older child on the campus of a Montgomery County school, and the school did not take proper steps to protect students in the wake of the incident, according to a lawsuit filed Monday that aims to hold both the school and its officials responsible.
The suit specifically names the Perkiomen School, where the assaults occurred, and its head of school Mark A. Davey.
“As we allege in the complaint, this tragic, horrific situation is a direct result of the Perkiomen School failing to address glaring safety hazards on its campus and its willful ignorance of the consequences of it refusing to maintain proper security measures,” Carin O’Donnell, an attorney with Stark & Stark, P.C., told Patch in a statement. “Making matters worse, we allege that after Perkiomen failed to maintain a safe campus, which led to the repeated sexual abuse of JohnDoe, the school blatantly tried to cover up the abuse.”
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The Perkiomen School did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Patch.
A faculty member’s wife, the mother of the victim, first witnessed an incident on Feb. 3, 2024, the suit states.
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The woman, noted in the lawsuit as Jane Doe to protect her identity, witnessed a 12-year-old boy with her son in one of the school’s equipment rooms, the suit states. The 12-year-old had an erection and was pulling up the 7-year-old’s pants, according to the suit.
The child then told his mother that the 12-year-old had sexually abused him in multiple locations across the campus, the suit adds.
Jane Doe reported the allegations to Perkiomen School immediately, but said her family did not hear anything back for two months. During this time, the suspect was allowed to “roam freely” near the campus, despite the school telling the victim’s family he would not be allowed to do so, the suit states.
Attorneys say that it was only after the Perkiomen School’s basketball team won a championship game that Devey suddenly released a statement to the entire school about the incidents. They said Devey did not consult with the victim’s family before he sent out the email.
The lawsuit dug into Devey’s past, and cites claims of mishandling sexual abuse in his past positions, as well.
“Unfortunately, it’s not surprising that such a heinous act would occur under Mark Devey’s watch,” Stark & Stark attorney Jill Roth told Patch. “Our complaint includes allegations of sexual abuse at a Connecticut boarding school while Devey was the head of school there, as well as allegations that he has ignored, downplayed, mishandled, and coveredup allegations of sexual abuse of minors at Perkiomen throughout his tenure at the school, including reported sexual assaults of at least two female students by a male student-athlete.”
The complaint was filed in the Montgomery County Court of Common Pleas on Monday. The full lawsuit can be viewed online here.
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