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Douglas Agyeh, of Pittsfield, was a former staffer at the Brookside School in Great Barrington, a treatment center for girls with behavioral or psychological issues.
Agyeh worked at the residential school for several weeks in 2021. He was responsible for monitoring the girls' behavior and protecting them as they slept. However, he took advantage of this authority, court records show.
One of his victims told investigators that Agyeh was a "trusted" staff member and was someone she felt she could speak to about personal matters that she didn't feel comfortable telling other staffers, court records examined by the Montreal Gazette said.
She told police that Agyeh began to sit outside of her dorm room at night while she slept.
"He would try to hold her hand and would touch her breasts and ‘private area,’ which made her uncomfortable. He would always give her a dirty look before he would start touching her, and that’s how she knew what he wanted to do,” the records show.
He sexually assaulted her multiple times from August through September 2021.
Some of the abuse was captured on the school's surveillance system, according to the Gazette.
Agyeh was also accused of sexually assaulting a girl under the guise that he just wanted to help her fold her laundry, the Berkshire County District Attorney's Office said.
Agyeh tried to escape justice by fleeing to Canada after his arrest in January 2023. Agyeh, a Ghana resident, was extradited to the US to stand trial.
He confessed to five counts of indecent assault and battery on a person over 14, nine counts of rape of a child with force, and nine counts of rape of a child, aggravated by age, the prosecutor said.
A just sentenced him to 10 to 12 years for the rape charges and three to five years that he will serve concurrently for the indecent assault, the prosecutor said.
District Attorney Timothy J. Shugrue said predators like Agyeh use the victims' trust and their silence as a weapon.
Predators like Douglas Agyeh rely on silence of their victims. I commend the victims for breaking the silence and their bravery throughout this process. I also want to thank the untied law enforcement response, as well as the full cooperation of the residential school, which played a critical role in bringing justice in this horrific case.
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