Milwaukee school employee sexual assault of student; lawsuit filed
MILWAUKEE - A St. Peter-Immanuel Lutheran School employee was convicted of sexual assault in 2016.
Years later, there's now a $20 million lawsuit.
The now-former employee here was convicted of having sex with a teenager. Now, the victim hopes to inspire other victims of sexual abuse to use their voices.
SIGN UP TODAY: Get daily headlines, breaking news emails from FOX6 News
It's something 24-year-old Josiah Strong still struggles to put into words. For the first time, he is speaking publicly about the sexual abuse he endured years ago.
Josiah Strong
"I never wish this experience on anybody," he said. "These past eight years I’ve been trying to learn how to get my voice back."
Tuesday, July 2, Strong and his attorney announced the $20 million lawsuit.
Josiah Strong (Credit: WCP Consulting & Communications)
They're suing St. Peter-Immanuel Lutheran School, its former athletic director Elizabeth Dillet and the school's parent network, Lutheran Urban Mission Initiative, Inc. (LUMIN Schools).
Case background
In 2016, Dillet was convicted of sexual assault of a child by a person who works with or volunteers with children. Prosecutors say Dillet, who was 31 at the time, had sex with Strong when he was 14.
Dillett had pleaded guilty to two felony charges: two counts of sexual assault of a child by a person who works or volunteers with children. Six other charges had been dismissed.
"We have brought a Title IX claim against the school behind us for what we believe is inaction when they had an opportunity to deal with these issues," attorney B'Ivory LaMarr said.
The lawsuit claims several failures by school administrators. It says they failed to act after a parent reported inappropriate behavior she saw between Dillet and Strong.
FREE DOWNLOAD: Get breaking news alerts in the FOX6 News app for iOS or Android.
"The school still didn’t do anything despite that notice," LaMarr said. "All the counseling he had to go through just to get to the point to speak on this issue."
St. Peter-Immanuel Lutheran is part of LUMIN, but LUMIN told FOX6 News the school was not part of the network until 2020, years after the sexual assault occurred.
"We’re in a school that is based on a religious setting," Strong's mother, Sara Strong said. "No one reached out to me aside from the principal. No one from administration, not even the pastor."
Strong's attorney said the lawsuit is happening now because it took Strong years to process what happened and to speak about it openly.
"I never wish this experience on anybody," Strong said.