BRENTWOOD - Last Friday was a rather ironic day for Lawrence Jenkens

BRENTWOOD - Last Friday was a rather ironic day for Lawrence Jenkens. While his former Phillips Exeter Academy classmates celebrated the first day of their 40th reunion at the prestigious boarding school, Jenkens sat in courtroom 5 at Rockingham Superior Court, confronting the man who sexually assaulted him at the prep school when he was 14 years old.

Former admissions officer Arthur Peekel, 75, of Palatine, Illinois, pleaded guilty to one count of sexual assault Friday and was given a one-year suspended jail sentence, as well as a $1,200 fine for assaulting Jenkens in November 1973. He will be required to register as a sex offender and partake in counseling.

Rockingham County Attorney Patricia Conway told the court Jenkens spent two nights as a prospective student on the Phillips Exeter campus in 1973, where the second night he stayed in Peekel's home. Conway said two cots were pushed up against Peekel's bed, where Jenkens pretended to be asleep while Peekel assaulted him that night.

"The victim was terrified," Conway said. Jenkens called his mother the next day, telling her of the incident. They would later meet with now-deceased principal Richard Day to tell him of the assault. After his time at Phillips Exeter, Peekel went on to be named Illinois Teacher of the Year for 1991 to 1992.

Police were able to prosecute the decades-old case because once Peekel moved out of New Hampshire, he froze the statute of limitations on the assault.

Jenkens was accompanied to court by his wife, brother and former Phillips Exeter classmates. He spoke directly to the judge while making his victim impact statement, making no eye contact with Peekel who sat to his right.

"I was scared to death that night," Jenkens told the court. "In my experience, children who were abused were murdered. I assumed that night that I was going to die. The next morning when I wasn't dead, I still had the impact at the age of 14 facing the possibility of my own mortality. It was extremely frightening."

Jenkens spoke of how he still decided to attend Phillips Exeter Academy, graduating in 1977. He said he left school with "not a sense of my potential as a young man but instead with the sense of grave doubt about my abilities, and very little sense of self worth."

"I also found it extremely difficult to have any sort of intimate relationship with another human being," he said. "It wasn't until after 10 years that I allowed another person to touch me. I still am not someone who hugs someone else very easily. There is still a physical aversion to touch in even that inept, friendly way."

Jenkens said in December of last year he received an anonymous letter that was sent to his office, where he works for the University of North Carolina system. The letter included profanities, accusing Jenkens of making up the assault. The letter also said Peekel was "10 times" the man Jenkens would ever be.

"The letter described in many ways the way I had come to view myself through the lens of what happened to me so many years earlier," Jenkens said.

Jenkens said he wanted to use his statement as a message to other sexual assault survivors, that closure is an important piece of the journey. It was also a call to Phillips Exeter Academy itself, where "passing the trash needs to stop."

"I want Phillips Exeter Academy to understand that abusing children is a grievous thing and it isn't right to ignore it," he said. "I think that passing the trash needs to stop. I think that Exeter's legacy to me is one of fear, anxiety and self-loathing. I want to see an openness and support system for victims of this kind of crime."

Jenkens said he had been overwhelmed by the support of friends, family and strangers since he went public with his assault last year.

Peekel was also admonished by Judge N. William Delker.

"Mr. Peekel, I can't even come close to saying anything that is as insightful and eloquent and powerful as what Mr. Jenkens just shared with the court here," Delker said. "I want to say the reason I am accepting this sentence is while I believe there is some satisfaction in sending someone like you to jail, no amount of jail time is going to right the wrong that you committed in this case. This type of conduct has such lasting and wide-ranging damage. Not just because it's an offense against a person and the dignity of that person, but because a person like you in a position of power and authority who exercises that over someone in a vulnerable position, particularly at that age, is devastating."

After the hearing, Jenkens told reporters others had reached out to him claiming they were also abused by Peekel.

"One of them was before me, one was after, and one was a long time after," Jenkens said. "All of the evidence suggests that pedophiles abuse children more than once."

Phillips Exeter Principal Lisa MacFarlane and Head of the Trustees Nicie Johnson Panetta requested to meet with Jenkens while he was in the state, offering him an apology, which the academy released a statement about Wednesday.

"We are very appreciative that Lawrence Jenkens accepted an invitation to meet with our principal and head of trustees," the statement released by PEA spokeswoman Robin Giampa stated. "They were thankful for the opportunity to apologize to him in person on behalf of the school. Disclosing the details of the assault, including in court last week, must have been very difficult and we are most grateful to him for coming forward." Jenkens' family had reported the assault after it occurred in 1973 and no action was taken. (See related story in this issue)

Jenkens said he was not partaking in his class reunion activities that weekend, as it was too raw, and he felt, not right for him.

"I wish I never went to Exeter," he said.

If you need help

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