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East Troy teacher sex assault; district sued
Five women are now suing the East Troy Community School District. They say the district allowed their middle school band teacher to sexually abuse them.
MILWAUKEE - Five women are now suing the East Troy Community School District. They say the district allowed their middle school band teacher to sexually abuse them.
On Wednesday, Oct. 2, Walworth County prosecutors filed a ninth charge of child sexual assault against John Rash.
John Rash
On Thursday, five of those victims filed a federal lawsuit against the school district where they say Rash abused them. The lawsuit names East Troy Community School District and four current and former administrators as defendants.
The lawsuit says between 2016 and 2019, each of the students reported that middle school band teacher John Rash had fondled and groped their breasts and thighs, but school officials never told police.
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It was not until 2021 that the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction called the Walworth County district attorney, who finally notified police of the allegations.
The lawsuit says the district's "deliberate indifference" caused the girls' "severe psychological damage."
In 2023, FOX6 Investigators sat down with parents of four of Rash's alleged victims.
"We want something to happen to those district staff members for what they put us families through. With what they put other community members through. Cause it’s not just us four. I think everybody’s naïve if they think it’s just us four families," the parent said.
The five plaintiffs, who are now young adults, have hired the law firm of Andreozzi and Foote to represent them. It is the same firm that represented nine of the 26 sexual assault victims of former Penn State football coach Jerry Sandusky.
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FOX6 News reached out to East Troy Superintendent Dr. Christopher Hibner, but did not receive a response.
East Troy Middle School
Meanwhile, Rash is scheduled for trial on the child sex assault charges in December.