TORRINGTON — A 17-year-old boy is facing criminal charges after police said he sexually assaulted a student at Torrington High School in December.
The Torrington High School student has been charged with fourth-degree sexual assault and attempt to commit first-degree sexual assault.
The alleged assault that came to light earlier this month when it was transferred to Superior Court occurred in December. The male suspect was arrested last month.
According to documents in the case, the suspect touched the girl inappropriately, tried to force her to perform a sex act and exposed himself.
The two knew each other.
The suspect has not entered a plea.
Superintendent Denise L. Clemons released the following statement on Thursday morning:
“The Torrington Public Schools recently learned of an alleged on campus assault of one of our students. As a school district, we do not and will not tolerate this type of conduct or any other inappropriate conduct toward any of our students. We will hold accountable any students who engage in such behavior.
In the rare situations when we receive allegations of such conduct, we investigate the claim immediately, properly and thoroughly so that the rights of all students involved are fully respected. In addition, where appropriate, we report such allegations to the police and to the Department of Children and Families (DCF).
In conducting such investigations and taking appropriate actions, we act to protect the well-being of all of our students. We educate students about appropriate and respectful behaviors and we take all appropriate steps, including student discipline, to prevent any recurrence of inappropriate conduct.
After an investigation, when we find that any students have in fact been treated inappropriately in any way, we take appropriate action to keep students safe and to hold the responsible students accountable. Given Federal laws requiring that we maintain confidentiality of student matters, we will not and cannot comment on discipline of any individual student. However, we can provide the following information to the public concerning this matter without identifying individual students.
Here, as soon as we heard of these allegations, we conducted an investigation. In addition, given the serious nature of these allegations, we cooperated fully with the police investigation and contacted DCF.
In closing, we wish to assure all members of the Torrington school community that the safety of our children is the District’s foremost concern and there are many policies and procedures in place to ensure the well-being of all our children.”
Specific details were not released about the incident.