LAWSUIT -
Judge refuses to dismiss lawsuit.
August 8, 2008 - A civil rights lawsuit alleges that the Hilldale Public Schools system was negligent in supervising a former band teacher who raped a student. The 14-year-old girl’s parents filed the suit in U.S. District Court in Muskogee.
Hilldale was denied a dismissal of the case by U.S. District Judge James H. Payne. He ruled the district was aware of complaints against Giacomo, disbelieved a reporting student and even threatened the student with suspension. That student was then denied a transfer into the district, Payne wrote in his refusal to dismiss the case.BACKGROUND Band instructor Danny Bryan Giacomo pleaded guilty in March to six counts of second-degree rape against the 14-year-old student. Giacomo also pleaded guilty to 10 other sexual-related felony acts against the 14-year-old and/or another Hilldale juvenile. He was sentenced to six years in prison and 29 years of probation.
He told the sentencing judge that the Hilldale Superintendent D.B. Merrill and former Assistant High School Principal knew of his behavior toward one of the students. In an affidavit, he said the two refused to allow a student who complained about the situation to return to Hilldale as a transfer student.
Both girls left Hilldale, one to be home schooled and the other to another school district.
An opinion and order in the case filed July 25 states when asked why he molested the 14-year-old, Giacomo testified: “I just felt I had the power — I could do it if I wanted to.”
TT entry for Giacomo.
