Another lawsuit alleges child sexual abuse by former Freeburg school superintendent
Freeburg Community Consolidated School District 70 is facing another lawsuit related to child sexual abuse allegations against an educator who committed suicide 15 years ago.
An anonymous plaintiff, using the name John Doe, filed a 29-page civil complaint against the district, a former school board member and a former administrator on Sept. 26 in St. Clair County Circuit Court.
The plaintiff, a man in his mid-40s, alleges that he was battered, falsely imprisoned and sexually groomed, harassed and abused in 1991 and 1992 when he was a sixth- and seventh-grade student at Carl L. Barton Elementary School by the late Robin Hawkins.
Hawkins was a teacher, counselor, basketball and track coach and Student Council sponsor from 1977 to 1993. He then became principal and assistant superintendent before serving as superintendent from 1999 to 2009.
The complaint alleges that the abuse occurred “numerous times on multiple occasions” on district property during school and extracurricular activities, and that officials failed to report it to proper authorities or take action to stop it.
“(Doe has) sustained severe permanent physical and mental injury, sickness and/or disease resulting in, but not limited to, mental and/or emotional injury, anxiety, panic attacks, inter-personal relationship and intimacy dysfunction and behavioral dysfunction,” the complaint states.
The other two defendants are Herschel Parrish, a school board member beginning in 1981 and president from 1992 to 2009; and Lawrence Meggs, assistant superintendent from 1973 to 1994 and then superintendent.
District 70 consists of Freeburg Elementary School, formerly Carl L. Barton Elementary School, and Freeburg Primary Center.
Parrish and Meggs couldn’t be reached on Tuesday. Their attorney, Charles Pierce, didn’t respond to requests for comment. On a conference call, School Board President Michelle Foppe and Financial Officer Mark Janssen reported being aware of the lawsuit.
“We can’t comment on pending litigation,” Foppe said.
Cases settled out of court
The first John Doe filed a civil lawsuit against Freeburg District 70, Meggs and former Superintendent Clarence Haege in 2010 in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois. It alleged that Hawkins had groomed and abused him, at one point molesting him after blindfolding him and binding his wrists.
Two years later, John Doe 2 and John Doe 3 filed federal lawsuits, alleging multiple instances of Hawkins engaging in masturbation and oral sex in his office and the boy’s locker room.
By 2014, the school district had settled with those three former students, who had alleged abuse in the 1990s and 2000s, and a fourth who hadn’t filed a lawsuit. Liability insurance covered the $5.6 million cost.
Later that year, a fifth former student, John Doe 4, filed a lawsuit in federal court. That case was settled in 2018.
Three more anonymous plaintiffs, using the names John Doe, James Doe and Joe Doe, filed lawsuits against the district and administrators in 2021 in St. Clair County Circuit Court, alleging child sexual abuse by Hawkins. Two of those three cases were settled, one for $6 million.
The one still open led to another lawsuit filed by Country Mutual Insurance Co. in 2022. The company is asking a judge to declare that it wasn’t providing liability insurance to the district at the time of the abuse and, even if it was, the policy wouldn’t have covered it.
The insurance company, part of Country Financial, argues that it wasn’t made aware of such claims until 2020.
“However, prior to the filing of the Lawsuit, and as far back as 1981 and earlier, upon information and belief, FREEBURG knew of the sexual abuse of the minor DOE 5, how and when it had been perpetrated,” according to its complaint for declaratory judgment.
“And therefore (the district) had notice of what could be asserted in the future as a result of this conduct but failed to provide any notice to COUNTRY at that time, or any other time, until July 2020.”
The most recent lawsuit filed on Sept. 26 in St. Clair County lists 12 counts, including failure to supervise, willful and wanton supervision, failure to protect, failure to control conduct, negligence and intentional and negligent infliction of emotional distress.
The plaintiff is asking for more than $50,000 in damages for each count, the maximum amount that can be sought in filings under jurisdictional limits and less than what a jury could award.
News of the lawsuit follows a two-year period of upheaval in the district, including the resignation of a principal who described a “toxic environment” and an effort by six school board members to get a seventh removed from office before his term ends.
Janssen, the financial officer, expressed regret Tuesday that officials haven’t been able to speak publicly about some issues, including those that involve personnel and court cases.
“We’ve got nothing to hide,” he said. “But we’ve also got to abide by the laws that are in place.”
Illinois State Police investigated
In 2009, the Illinois State Police investigated allegations of child sexual abuse against Hawkins spanning decades, according to investigative reports obtained by the BND through a Freedom of Information Act request.
The reports showed that police interviewed Hawkins and searched his home and school office in April of that year.
Less than a month later, the superintendent’s body was found behind the wheel of a 1964 Mustang convertible in a barn on his property near Belleville. The cause of death appeared to be suicide by carbon-monoxide asphyxiation.
“An old investigation into allegations against Hawkins had recently been reopened,” the school board wrote in a statement at the time.
According to the investigative reports:
- Police were aware of five possible victims.
- One was a student whose father alleged that Hawkins gave the boy money, took him to dinner, bought him a pair of $80 earrings and promised to give him a car and college tuition.
- The father stated in a letter that his son came home dizzy and barely able to walk one night after going out to dinner with Hawkins.
- During his police interview, Hawkins denied a sexual relationship with any student but admitted to having inappropriate sexual conversations with students.
- Hawkins declined to take a polygraph test without talking to his attorney.
- Police then contacted Parrish, told him of the allegations against Hawkins and asked permission to access his work computer.
- Parrish seemed “agitated” by the police presence and wouldn’t allow computer access without first checking with the district’s attorney, saying he didn’t have authority.
- Parrish told police he knew of only one allegation against Hawkins, in the early 1980s, and that it had been investigated by the school board and Illinois Department of Children and Family Services, which found no misconduct.
- In that case, a student had alleged Hawkins took him to the boy’s locker room, wrapped an elastic bandage around his hands and eyes, fondled him and performed oral sex on him.
Hawkins provided an alibi in the form of schedules showing he was elsewhere at the time.
- The superintendent’s computers were later turned over to police, who found no evidence related to the allegations.
- The St. Clair County state’s attorney’s office declined to prosecute due to lack of evidence.
This story was originally published October 9, 2024 at 6:00 AM.
