A Tennessee family is suing their son’s school district for $4.5 million after a 29-year-old married female janitor allegedly sexually assaulted the boy during school hours.
The school janitor Jessica Galyon, 29, was arrested in February on charges of sexual battery by an authority figure, aggravated statutory rape, and statutory rape by an authority figure after she allegedly pulled the 16-year-old boy into a room at Midway High School and raped him.
According to the Knoxville News Sentinel reports the boy’s family is now suing the school district and the contractor that employed Galyon as a janitor. Galyon, 29, of Philadelphia, Tennessee, was arrested on February 23 and was released on $15,000 bond.
Via Knoxville News Sentinel:
The victim’s parents are suing Roane County Schools and Compass One Services of Tennessee, the contractor that employed Galyon, for negligence in allowing the alleged rape to occur, according to a copy of the lawsuit filed Monday. Galyon first began talking to the teen in August before allegedly attempting to escalate the relationship by insisting he give her his phone number and become her friend on Facebook.
Galyon allegedly began sending “flirtatious and sexual messages” to the boy, who told Galyon her advances were “unsolicited, unwanted and unwelcome,” the lawsuit reads. On Sept. 16, Galyon allegedly invited the boy to visit her in a hotel room so they could have sex. The boy rejected the offer and said he didn’t want “any further contact” with Galyon, according to the lawsuit. When the boy ultimately confronted Galyon about her unwanted sexual advances, she allegedly took him into a room and raped him at the school during school hours.
“This was the first ever sexual encounter of any kind that (the boy) had ever had in his life,” the lawsuit reads.
The suit alleges that the school and company were ‘negligent’ in allowing the attack to happen. Furthermore, the suit alleges that the unidentified teen dropped out of school, enrolled in home school and began attending weekly counseling sessions as a result of the alleged assault.
The family, who are being represented by Tarpy, Cox, Fleishman & Leveille PLLC, are seeking $3.5 million in damages from Roane County Schools and Compass One, in addition to $1 million in punitive damages.
