A complaint filed in U.S. District Court this week named the Virgin Islands government, Education and Human Services departments and staff members in an expansive civil suit over failures to address allegations against Alfredo Bruce Smith, the former hall monitor and track coach who terrorized Charlotte Amalie High School students for one-and-a-half decades.
The suit was filed anonymously by a survivor of Smith’s abuses, identified in the complaint as John Doe. In addition to government departments, the suit specifically names CAHS Principal Alcede Edwards, whom the complaint describes as “a school official with a duty to report alleged abuse” and someone with actual knowledge of Smith’s crimes, and teacher Camelia Febres, described as “someone who knew Plaintiff feared being forced into a room” with Smith during a March 2019 school trip to Puerto Rico.
Also named are 20 fictitious defendants, or “as-yet unidentified school officials, board members, teachers, coaches, social workers, administrators, or other employees or agents of the GVI, VIDE, BOE, and/or VIDHS” who knew or should have known about Smith’s years of abuses or who otherwise failed to safeguard students.
“Fictitious pleading is required here because the Defendants and others have made efforts to conceal the identities” of those employees and officials, wrote attorney Daniel Cevallos of the New York-based law firm Cevallos and Wong.
Collectively, all of the defendants are accused of depriving the plaintiff of their bodily integrity, violating the 14th Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause; failure to train staff; state-created danger; three counts of conspiracy; violating the Trafficking Victims Protection Act; civil conspiracy; civil assault; civil battery; and negligence.
The Virgin Islands government, Board of Education and Education and Human Services departments are accused of quid pro quo harassment, creating a hostile environment, deliberate indifference, failure to train, and retaliation.
Smith — who is also a defendant in the lawsuit — was sentenced to 35 years in federal prison last April after pleading guilty to 20 charges that included: aggravated second-degree rape; first-degree unlawful sexual contact; coercion and enticement; and production of child pornography.
Even after Smith’s sentencing, questions about how his abuses were able to continue for so long remained. A long-awaited report by the Praed Foundation, released publicly in September, offered some insight into the barriers education workers face in reporting suspected abuse. Some respondents stated concerns about confidentiality and fears of retaliation. Others said they didn’t feel qualified to identify instances of abuse.
The report did not mention — and was not meant to identify — Education and other officials who knew about Smith’s crimes but failed to act as the V.I. Code requires them to.
This month, The Source confirmed that two principals and one assistant principal had been placed on leave amid an Education Department investigation. The department has yet to offer an official statement regarding that investigation.
The lawsuit comes on the heels of a recently enacted law that eliminated the statute of limitations on civil actions brought after cases of sexual assault.
That legislation was special ordered during the 35th Legislature’s Nov. 20 session by Sen. Marise James, who chairs the Senate Education and Workforce Development Committee. Lt. Gov. Tregenza Roach, as acting governor, signed the measure into law earlier this month. Speaking to The Source at the time, Roach said the bill “only addresses civil actions. It basically provides that there is no limitation and that those suits can be brought at any time.”
“Similarly,” he said,” there is no statute of limitations with regard to the criminal law and such offenses.”
Attorneys for the plaintiff highlighted the extension in the complaint, noting that the “statute also applies retroactively, allowing previously barred cases to proceed.”
