Suit Claims Rape In Dean's Office At Homestead School
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HOMESTEAD (CBSMiami) -- A South Florida mother on Thursday afternoon described her daughter after she was allegedly sexually assaulted at Keys Gate Charter High School in Homestead.
"She can't focus.She can't sleep. She can't eat," she said.
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"A 16-year-old student was sexually assaulted by two football players, in the school, during the day," attorney Jeff Herman said. "In the dean's office."
Yes, the dean's office. A lawsuit filed Thursday alleges football players had the run of Keys Gate High, that two had been sexually taunting the girl - called Jane Doe in court papers - for weeks, and that the pair "frequently entered her classroom while class was in session in order to sexually harass Jane."
In April, the two allegedly grabbed the girl from a restroom, and using a key they fetched, took her to the office of Dean of Students Jamaal Fairley where they forced her to perform repeated sex acts.
A parent, active in the school, who asked that we not use his name, said preferential treatment for football players is pervasive.
"That has been an on-going problem in the school. Athletes don't even have to attend class, and are still playing and are promoted," the parent told CBS4's Gary Nelson.
It is not clear how the football players allegedly got a key to the office of Dean Jamaal Fairley, who coincidentally is the brother of Assistant Athletic Director Jamie Fairley. Neither was available for comment. The school referred questions to a PR firm.
One of the two accused rapists has graduated, the second is still on the football team.
Keys Gate Charter High is owned by Charter Schools USA, a big, for-profit outfit that is no stranger to allegations of looking the other way when it comes to alleged sexual abuse of students.
In April a Miami-Dade jury awarded a little boy and his mother more than $5 million after finding that Charter USA failed to protect the boy from repeated sexual assaults by an older student on a bus and in a bathroom at their Downtown Miami Charter School.
The alleged victim at Keys Gate High told no one for 11 weeks, before finally going to her mom's room at five o'clock in the morning.
The mother said she knew something had been troubling her daughter, who had become withdrawn and depressed.
"I wasn't expecting to hear something like that. I wasn't expecting to hear something like that," the mother said. "That was my baby."
Miami-Dade police have an open investigation into the alleged sexual batteries at Keys Gate High. Charter schools USA declined to comment on the merits of the lawsuit brought by the teenager.
A spokesperson for the company, Colleen Reynolds, said in a one line statement, "We are working with authorities."
To read the lawsuit filed against Charter Schools USA, click here.
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