The family of a teenager killed in a Dartmouth crash last year is suing officials at Greater New Bedford Vocational Technical High School, alleging they ignored the grooming and sexual abuse he suffered at the hands of a former staff member who was with him during the one-car accident, records show.
Jacob Pothier’s family alleged in their lawsuit filed April 4 in US District Court in Boston that school officials were so egregious in their response to the abuse that they threatened the then-17-year-old in February 2023 when they became aware that a video depicting him and his alleged abuser, Kathleen Martins, “engaging in a sex act was being viewed by students in school.”
The family seeks damages totaling $10 million, according to legal filings.
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Martins, 45, a named defendant in the lawsuit, didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday. She hasn’t been charged criminally in connection with the case.
The civil complaint said that once school officials learned of the tape, Pothier was “called to the main office, confronted about the sex video, instructed to empty his pockets, turn over his cellphone, interrogated and threatened, and told that there would be disciplinary consequences for him at school and that he could be charged criminally for possession of the sex video.”
Meanwhile Martins, who worked as a security guard at the school, was permitted to resign on March 6, 2023, “without any conditions and without any further investigation taking place,” the suit said.
It also named as defendants Michael Watson, superintendent-director of the one-school district; Nancy Markey, the human resources director; Warley Williams, the school principal; and Yolanda Dennis, the school’s executive director of equity, diversity, inclusion, and compliance.
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None of them immediately responded to requests for comment, but a lawyer for the school, also a named defendant in the suit, released a statement disputing the allegations.
“The School is aware of the lawsuit filed in connection with the death of a former student,” said attorney Gregory A. Manousos. “We disagree with the allegations and will present our position in court. The School took immediate action once it became aware of the alleged inappropriate conduct. At the time of the fatal car crash, the individual had not been employed by the School for nearly a year.”
Officials filed a required 51A report to the state Department of Children and Families alerting the agency to possible abuse once they became aware of the video, the suit said.
But it also said Martins “prepped” Pothier prior to his interview with DCF “and convinced him not to reveal any information” about their relationship, the suit said.
And when Pothier’s parents had inquired about the matter, they were also allegedly met with hostility by school officials who said their son’s future on the football team could be imperiled, according to the suit.
“When Jacob’s parents reached out to the District and/or GNB Voc-Tech about the matter, the District, GNB Voc-Tech, Watson, Markey, Willams and/or Dennis informed Jacob’s parents that if Martins was found to have violated a law, that the finding would have negative ramifications for Jacob including impacting Jacob’s football career at GNB Voc-Tech and any post-graduation opportunities that could otherwise arise,” the complaint read.
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Martins and Pothier, then 18, were traveling together on the night of Jan. 5, 2024, when they were both ejected from her Honda Accord in a crash in Dartmouth, where Martins lives, according to officials and court papers.
Pothier was later pronounced dead at an area hospital, while Martins survived her injuries and then promptly “deleted her Facebook account” afterward, the complaint said.
At the crash scene, police found “several nip bottles of Smirnoff vodka alcohol” inside the Accord, the suit said.
Pothier’s family alleged that school officials had since 2021 ignored clear signs of Martins’s grooming of and inappropriate behavior with the teen.
Martins had attended at least one school football game “wearing a shirt with Jacob’s jersey number on it,” the filing said, and when he had an out-of-state football tournament, “Martins went to New Jersey and rented a hotel room and Jacob visited her at the hotel room.”
In addition, the suit said, she regularly took him out of class, and she also allegedly provided him with “alcohol, marijuana, clothing, jewelry, food, and money” in exchange for sex.
“No action was taken by the District, GNB Voc-Tech, Watson, Markey, Williams, Dennis, or any other administrators or employees to investigate why Jacob was being taken out of class by Martins, and/or to ensure that Jacob was in class,” the lawsuit said. “On a regular basis, at the end of the school day, Jacob would leave the school grounds in Martins’ car.”
On one occasion, the complaint said, a New Bedford police officer “found Martins and Jacob in the Pine Grove Cemetery (which is across the street from GNB Voc-Tech) in Martins’ car.”
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Martins also returned to school grounds following her resignation to bring food to Pothier or to pick him up after class, the suit said.
“As a direct and proximate result of Martins’ unlawful actions, Jacob was continually groomed, sexually harassed, sexually abused, stalked, subject to sexual violence, and/or otherwise suffered personal injuries, including emotional distress and an untimely death on January 5, 2024,” the complaint read.
The family said the remaining defendants also bear responsibility for the tragedy.
“The affirmative actions of the District and/or GNB Voc-Tech, were unreasonable under the circumstances and sufficiently severe, pervasive, and so extreme and egregious as to shock the conscience,” the complaint read.
It said the “District and/or GNB Voc-Tech knew or reasonably should have known that Martins was grooming, sexually harassing, stalking, and/or sexually abusing Jacob and otherwise engaging in sexual violence toward Jacob.”
None of the defendants had filed responses to the suit in court as of Tuesday morning; they have until April 29 to do so, records show.
Material from prior Globe stories was used in this report.
Travis Andersen can be reached at travis.andersen@globe.com.