Decades of persistent abuse of children and finally a prosecution.
March 28, 2008 - Howard Evans, 64, pleaded not guilty to two counts of assault and one count of unlawful sexual contact with a teenage male.
A former teacher at Liberty School, an alternative school that closed in December 2007, Evans had been named in two previous lawsuits filed in 2006 and 2007 that allege sexual misconduct. Both civil suits, which have since been settled, sought several thousand dollars in damages. While the financial details of the settlements have not been disclosed.
Evans had been a licensed massage therapist and acupuncturist. He voluntarily surrendered his license to practice last year after a complaint was filed against him with the state of Maine Board of Complementary Health Care Providers alleging “sexual impropriety,” according to a consent agreement.Evans is the former chairman of the Blue Hill Planning Board.
The surrender of his license was part of the consent agreement with the board, the Maine Attorney General and the Maine Department of Professional and Financial Regulation.
His trial is scheduled tentatively for August 1.
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From The Working Waterfront (June 2007): A support group was formed in March in the Blue Hill community made up of parents, friends, former friends, and colleagues of the accused who also feel angry and betrayed.
The abuse goes back decades. Evans wrote parents in 1996, apologizing for the damage he had done to their son between 1984 and 1986.
In the letter, Evans admitted to “The sexualizing of a deep trust and friendship” and enclosed a check “as a way of creating a final end to the abuse and harm” he had caused. Evans wrote, “What I did to Nat will never happen again with any young person entrusted to my care.”
