A civil rights lawyer stands with the family of a young person who was allegedly raised and abused by a former teacher
TANGIPAHOA PARISH, La. — On Wednesday in downtown Baton Rouge, national civil rights attorney Ben Crump stood with the family of a Tangipahoa Parish teenager and delivered a message.
“There has to be accountability,” Crump said.
Crump says that was missing after a Tangipahoa Parish teacher was arrested last yr for alleged sexual misconduct with a student. That student is Crump’s client in a federal lawsuit against the Tangipahoa Parish School System and former teacher Morgan Freche.
“Teachers are supposed to be people we can trust, but that trust has been broken,” Crump said.
Crump alleges that Freche, who was a teacher and administrator at Loranger Middle and High Schools, began sexually molesting the teenager when she was 14 years old. The lawsuit states that from that time on, he was sexually abused by Freche throughout high school and eventually fathered a toddler along with her.
“We’re attempting to get over it. We just want justice,” said the teenager’s grandfather, Preston Alexander.
The former student’s family said that they had no idea the violence had occurred. His mother, Esoterica Hill, claims her son’s innocence was stolen and he has been suffering ever since.
“It is not in the nature of a child to be molested and raped by people who are supposed to care for them, who are part of their community and village, who are supposed to be their security, and when you have a child who promises so much and who feels, that there’s nothing you’re doing right now,” Hill said.
The family’s lawyers hope this lawsuit will bring accountability, especially to the Tangipahoa Parish school system, which they are saying knew about the alleged abuse but did nothing.
“The school district had numerous opportunities to take corrective action to rectify this situation, but in the end it too failed it,” said attorney Aaron Karger.
While the criminal case against Freche is ongoing, Crump wants the civil case to shine a separate light.
“Whether it is a white girl or a black boy, child sexual abuse is an atrocity and we must stand firm against it. It should not be a two-tier system,” Crump said.
The lawsuit seeks several unspecified damages. WWL Louisiana reached out to the Tangipahoa Parish School System for comment on the lawsuit and allegations, but nobody called us back. Freche stays free on bail.
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