An ex-student of the prestigious California boarding school Thacher claims that when she reported the headmaster’s blatant molestation of her, the school expelled her.
Due to the nature of her claim, the woman’s identity has not been made public. In 1982, she attended the $68,000-per-year Ojai school.
She alleges that when she was only 13 years old, William Bill Wyman, the headmaster at the time, touched her breasts and offered her “particular attention.” She is now 53 years old.
She said that he often followed her from her dorm to the stables where she took care of her horse, improperly “stroking” her and making sexual comments.
She discussed how Wyman followed her from her dorm room to the stables at a virtual press conference on Wednesday, and how other staff members stepped in whenever he “came too near in public.”
Wyman passed away in 2014 from lung cancer and cannot be held accountable or investigated for the allegations.
But the lady claims that by permitting the alleged abuse, Thacher failed to safeguard her and other pupils.
She further alleges that a female nurse violated her sexually by inserting a thermometer into her anus hourly while she was in the hospital overnight.
Her accusation follows the publication of a devastating 91-page investigation last year that exposed years of sexual abuse at the elite school.
In the autumn of 1982, I was 13 years old when I enrolled at Thacher. I was a bubbly kid with outstanding grades who was excited about a life with horses, meeting new friends, and being away from a dissatisfying family situation, which I now realize made me a target of abuse.
John Doe
The study concluded that staff members and some students had sexually harassed female pupils.
Additionally, it explained how school officials covered up the assault.
The latest case brought against Thacher is the first one.
At the press conference on Wednesday, a lady going by the name Jane Doe spoke without being identified.
‘I started at Thacher in the autumn of 1982 when I was 13 years old.
I was an extroverted girl with outstanding grades who was excited about a life with horses, meeting new friends, and getting away from an uncomfortable home environment—which, as it turns out, made me a target of abuse.
I quickly caught the headmaster of the school’s particular attention. He would embrace me, say I was his “special girl,” and give me a hug.
“This became worse with more caressing and groping of my body and breasts.”
He had a habit of following me as I went from my hostel to the stables for horses.
When she protested to the faculty, they advised her not to worry about it since he was only being kind or grandfatherly.
She claims in the lawsuit that Wyman approached her as she was walking to the school’s barn and placed his “erect penis” on her.
Jane Doe claims that after being kept in the hospital’s infirmary “against her choice,” a nurse sexually assaulted her.
She claims she was informed she couldn’t return to the school after her sophomore year in 1983.
She has hired Gloria Allred, a well-known lawyer, to assist her in her dispute with the institution.
Allred told DailyMail.com that she encourages any other former Thacher students who think they may have also experienced sexual assault to get in touch with her office.
Blossom Pidduck, the school’s head, resigned last year as a consequence of the harsh assessment.
She said at the time that the study had brought back “realizations” for her as a sexual assault victim as well.
Pidduck herself was a female student there. In the department of environmental science, her spouse is a professor. The claims made in the complaint have not yet received a response from Thacher.
The English actress Joely Richardson and actor Jonathan Tucker are among its noteworthy former students.
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