A former Manhattan public school principal is facing a federal lawsuit alleging that he sexually abused a student "nearly every day," referring to her as "baby" and "princess." The lawsuit claims that Brett Kimmel who now lives in Maryland groped the student, pressured her to perform oral sex and attempted to have sex with her just before her 18th birthday, the New York Post reported.
The court papers further claimed that the accused allegedly "set his sights" on the girl when she was in eighth grade at the Washington Heights Expeditionary Learning School more than a decade ago.
Kimmel sent the victim multiple inappropriate texts and emails every day during her freshman year, and later asked her to send him shirtless selfies, she claimed in her April Manhattan federal court lawsuit against Kimmel and the city Department of Education. The court papers further contended that the messages didn't stop even after the teen's older sister confronted Kimmel about his deranged notes in the summer of 2012.
She claimed that the principal used to drive her to and from school, molesting her during the car rides during her sophomore and junior years.
The woman claimed that her prolonged abuse was due to the Department of Education's (DOE) "negligent supervision," including a lack of staff and faculty training to report suspicious behaviour and ignoring students' comments about the abuse.
According to city payroll records, the Special Commissioner of Investigation for city schools had no reports on file for Kimmel, who earned $182,844 in the fiscal year 2015 and left the DOE in the fall of that year.
Years after the abuse ended, the woman decided to file a lawsuit "to hold the wrongdoer accountable so he doesn't get to do this again to someone else," her attorney, Julia Kuan, told The Post.
Kuan noted that the woman did not report the abuse to the police at the time but declined to elaborate due to client confidentiality.
Court documents indicate that she is seeking unspecified damages.
Kimmel, now working as an education consultant in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., denied the sexual abuse allegations through his lawyer, Alan Sash, and requested that the case be dismissed in court filings.
