Former New Jersey student’s lawsuit says he was sexually abused

(USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect) – A former Jersey City public school student is suing the district and Board of Education over sexual abuse he says he suffered from his then-principal.

The lawsuit, filed in state Superior Court on July 14, says the former student, identified by initials, was sexually assaulted when he was in the fourth grade in 1999 by Philip Murray, who served as a principal and assistant vice principal at various times at Public School 38.

The lawsuit names the Jersey City Board of Education, Jersey City Public Schools, the New Jersey State Board of Education, Public School 38 (also known as James F. Murray School) and other unidentified entities, saying the agencies named should have had more oversight over Murray that would have prevented the abuse.

NorthJersey.com did not get an immediate response by email about the lawsuit from Jersey City Public Schools or the Jersey City Board of Education. The state Education Department and the State Board of Education both declined to comment on pending litigation.

The lawsuit says the former student was sent to the principal’s office one day for talking back to his teacher. There, the suit says, Murray groped the plaintiff and sexually assaulted him.

Murray then told the student not to tell anyone about the assault, or he would get in trouble, the lawsuit says. It says he also told the student that “no one would believe him, and it would not be good for him if he told anyone.”

The suit says Murray sexually assaulted the student two more times in his office.

Murray was sexually assaulting another minor at the same time, the lawsuit says, and would be charged a year later with raping and violently beating a teenage boy. A grand jury in 2001 charged Murray with six counts of sexual assault and one count of aggravated assault in connection with acts allegedly committed between September 1999 and September 2000.

State records show that Murray in January 2002 pleaded guilty to aggravated assault. In March 2002, he was sentenced to two years’ probation, prohibited from working with children under the age of 6, and ordered to obtain anger management counseling. Murray’s teacher and supervisor certificates also were revoked by the state.

The former student, represented by the law firm Levy Konigsberg, is suing under New Jersey’s Child SexualAbuse Act and Child Victims Act, saying the alleged abuse resulted in “sustained and permanent injuries” such as pain, suffering, and emotional and psychological trauma.

The lawsuit says the student is seeking not only a jury trial but also documentation of child sex abuse at Public School 38 and in Jersey City Public Schools between 1985 and 2005, in addition to further records.