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Police: PEA deans violated sex abuse reporting law

Portsmouth Herald - 11/15/2017

EXETER - State police reports from 2016 show an investigating trooper drafted arrest warrants for two Phillips Exeter Academy deans, alleging they violated a mandatory sex abuse reporting law. However, the Rockingham County Attorney's office decided against criminal charges, with the deans now remaining on campus.

County Attorney Patricia Conway said "alternatively" to prosecuting the case, her office entered into a memorandum of understanding with the academy and Exeter Police Department, outlining faculty obligation to report suspected child abuse.

N.H. State Police Trooper Mallory S. Littman, an investigator with the state's major crime unit, wrote in a detailed November 2016 report that she determined there was "probable cause to believe that (Dean of Residential Life Arthur J. Cosgrove) and (Dean of Students Melissa Mischke) did commit the crime of Child Protection Act-Reporting Law, a misdemeanor." The New York Times first reported the police document Tuesday, which was then obtained by Seacoast Media Group.

Littman continued that Cosgrove and Mischke were notified of the suspected abuse by the alleged victim and did not immediately report it to the Department of Health and Human Services, a state law for an alleged victim under age 18.

Littman wrote she drafted arrest warrants for Mischke and Cosgrove and gave them to the Rockingham County Attorney's Office in October 2016.

In addition, she wrote neither dean provided statements as to their involvement, although given "various opportunities" to do so.

Mischke and Cosgrove issued the following statement on Tuesday evening defending their decision not to report.

"In our respective capacities of dean of students and dean of residential life at Phillips Exeter Academy over a number of years, we have repeatedly reported possible cases of sexual abuse and misconduct to the New Hampshire Division of Youth, Children and Family Services (DCYF) and the Exeter Police Department," the statement reads. "Based on the information reported to us in October of 2015, we did not believe, in good faith, that a reportable offence had occurred. If we had, we would have reported it as we had always done and continue to do to this day."

The state police investigation stemmed from an alleged sexual assault incident that occurred in the basement of the academy's church in October 2015.

The victim, then 17-year-old Michaella Henry, spoke to the Boston Globe last ye

ar about her struggles in reporting her alleged assault to administration, where she said she was corrected and told her incident was "harassment," not assault. She claimed a fellow classmate fondled her against her will.

The defendant in the case, former academy student Chukwudi Ikpeazu, was arrested by Exeter police in June 2016, but the charges were dropped with conditions this past June. The conditions were not made public by Conway.

In regard to the case involving Cosgrove and Mischke, Conway said, "What we do here at the county attorney's office is we look at if the state can prove a case beyond a reasonable doubt. We receive all of the facts and circumstances to determine whether we think we can do that. In this particular instance, upon reviewing these factors, the state decided not to bring criminal charges."

Conway said the case presented a number of issues related to witness cooperation and strength of the evidence, but would not comment on further details.

"The end goal in this case is to make sure Phillips Exeter and any employees report suspected child abuse immediately," she said. "I feel that we have accomplished that goal by entering into the (memorandum of understanding) with the school. Now it's very clear what our expectations are. It's very clear to the staff, the deans, the teachers what their obligations are."

Conway said she conducted training with faculty at the beginning of the school year and plans to do so annually.

"I want to make it clear just because a trooper or any kind of law enforcement officer drafts an affidavit, that's their job to draft a probable cause affidavit for an arrest," Conway said. "It's our job to review it. There's a big difference between probable cause and proof beyond a reasonable doubt."

A vocal critic of Phillips Exeter's handling of sexual misconduct, 1975 alumnus Michael Whitfield Jones has been a mentor to Henry over the last few years as she grappled with the court case.

"There seems to be a lot of actions that hide information and don't hold administrators, staff or faculty who have been responsible for suppressing abuse reports, accountable at all," he said. "There are no consequences for them. It's going to come back and another light is going to be shined upon New Hampshire and Phillips Exeter. There is no reason someone who should have been served an arrest warrant should stay at the school."

Phillips Exeter Academy Principal Lisa MacFarlane sent a letter to alumni Tuesday regarding the police report.

"PEA conducted its own thorough review of their handling of this particular matter. We concluded that based on the information Deans Mischke and Cosgrove had been presented with at the time, their good faith belief that no reportable offense had occurred was justified. Deans Mischke and Cosgrove continue in their important roles at PEA, and they continue to bring professionalism and dedication to their mission at all times," MacFarlane said in the letter.

An investigation into sex abuse allegations at the academy is ongoing, conducted by international law firm Holland & Knight, hired by the prep school to look into misconduct by former faculty and staff.

Phillips Exeter is one of several prep schools around the country facing reports of sex abuse that trace back decades.