In a settlement deal, Deerfield Academy, a preparatory school in western Massachusetts, has agreed to pay $500,000 to a victim of a sexual abuse case. The male victim, who was not named in reports, alleged that a faculty member molested him while he attended the school from 1983 to 1985.
The plaintiff named Bryce Lambert, head of the school's English department at that time, as the staff member who sexually abused him when he was still a student at Deerfield Academy. As detailed in the lawsuit, the molestations occurred multiple times during school trips. Many of those were for golf and squash competitions in Connecticut, Boston.com reported.
The victim noted that after the sporting events, two of the school's former coaches would take him to Lambert's car where the latter would allegedly abuse him before taking him home. The two coaches were also named in the lawsuit but were not identified in the reports. According to the plaintiff, he was molested over 100 times during his stay at Deerfield Academy.
"My client looked to Bryce Lambert as having total power and authority," the complainant's legal representative said according to Newsday.
"My client would attend squash events and golf events in Connecticut against other schools, and Bryce Lambert would be waiting in the parking lot to take my client on excursions."
Although the school has agreed on the settlement deal, no criminal charges were filed against Lambert since the former educator had already passed away in 2007. However, a separate investigation carried out in 2013 revealed that Lambert had molested two students of the school during his tenure.
This detail was uncovered while a law firm was investigating another ex-faculty member named Peter Hindle. The investigators also learned that Hindle served as the direct supervisor of Lambert during the latter's employment at the school.
Due to the results of the case, the Deerfield Academy has updated some of the guidelines and programs of the school. This includes the removal of Lambert's name in a writing scholarship, the Salem News has learned.
