Commentary by Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
A group of high school girls from Pittsburgh took a page out of the #believeallwomen playbook and falsely accused a boy of sexual assault simply because they “don’t like him.” To date, none of them have been punished for ruining the boy’s life.
Fox News is reporting on an outrageous case coming out of Seneca Valley High School in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania where a group of five high school girls conspired to falsely accuse the son of Michael and Alicia Flood, known only as T.F. of sexually assaulting them on two occasions.
According to a federal lawsuit filed by the parents last week and obtained by Pittsburgh’s Trib Live, the first allegation occurred in July 2017 at an area swimming pool where T.F. worked as a lifeguard. Seneca Valley High School graduate Megan Villegas, who is the only adult defendant named in the lawsuit, said she was present during an assault on another girl, known only as K.S., at the pool. As a result, T.F. lost his job and was charged with indecent assault and two counts of harassment. He pleaded not guilty, but was put on probation.
Later, in a recorded interview with school officials, K.S. admitted that she made up the allegation because, “I just don’t like him. I just don’t like to hear him talk. … I don’t like to look at him.”
But the girls weren’t done with T.F. yet.
In March, another girl — identified as C.S. and a friend of K.S. — reported to a school counselor that T.F. had walked into her home uninvited and sexually assaulted her. The allegations were supported by information from two other girls, identified as E.S. and H.R., according to the lawsuit.
On April 9, Zelienople police charged T.F. with indecent assault, criminal trespass and simple assault.
“On April 10, T.F. was removed from class at Seneca Valley High School and placed in leg and wrist shackles by the Jackson Township Police with the assistance of Juvenile Probation Officer Michael Trego,” the lawsuit states.
Because Trego testified at a hearing that T.F. was a threat to the community, the boy was forced to spend nine days in a juvenile detention center before being released on home-electronic monitoring.
“After 28 days, T.F. was only allowed out of his home to mow his lawn,” the lawsuit contends.
By May, the criminal complaints against the teen began to unravel when three of the so-called witnesses admitted that they had lied.
All charges have since been filed or closed, but the suffering is far from over for T.F.
“T.F. has had psychological trauma because of all this. He’s had to see a psychologist to deal with the physical symptoms which are the direct result of being accused of something when he did not do anything wrong,” said Craig Fishman, the attorney representing the Floods.
“The Butler County District Attorney’s office promised to file a petition to expunge the record of T.F. in September, but has not yet done so, providing further evidence of gender-based discrimination. The (district attorney) has refused to file criminal charges against K.S., Villegas, C.S., E.S. and H.R. due to gender-based discrimination,” the lawsuit states.
The lawsuit also claims that school officials have repeatedly refused to mark the academic records of the girls who lied about the assaults.
As difficult as this is to believe, the school has yet to take any punitive action against the girls.
“(T.F.) was basically being tortured in school by the other students and investigators, but the administration was only focused on protecting the girls who were lying,” Fishman said. “Once the allegations were proven false, they really didn’t care one bit about T.F. and there has been absolutely no repercussions against the girls.”
The parents, however, are not about to let them get away with it and have filed a federal lawsuit seeking unspecified damages from the girls’ parents, the school district, and the Butler County District Attorney’s office.
Falsely accusing this boy was a betrayal of the millions of women who have been sexually assaulted and does little more than make it harder for us to be believed.
Shame on Seneca Valley High School for not punishing this kind of dishonest behavior, which would have been a valuable life lesson for all involved!
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