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The lawsuit, which was originally filed by 13 students from two Peabody middle schools, has attracted 28 more students, bringing the total number to 41, the Patch reports.
"We did expect there would be additional claimants when we filed the original suit, and we expect many more people to come forward," Boston Attorney Carmen Durso told the outlet. "It is interesting that we have been contacted by people living in other parts of the country."
The lawsuit claims that James Toltz, age 80, could have sexually abused up to 150 students at Higgins Middle School and John F. Kennedy Junior High School over 34 years, as previously reported by Daily Voice. The suit also criticizes the City of Peabody for not properly training, supervising or discipling Toltz during his time at each school from 1969 to 1996.
"Toltz used his position as a means to groom students whom he wished to sexually abuse," the lawsuit says. "Toltz developed a reputation as an abuser among students that any supervisory personnel would have been aware of."
The lawsuit says Toltz forced students to shower naked together while he watched. The suit further claims that Toltz fondled students' genitals, applied numerous creams and ointments on them, spanked them and digitally penetrated their anuses. The students, now adults, were as young as 11 years old when the abuse started.
“It was so frequent that the school couldn’t help but know about this,” Durso said in an interview with ItemLive. “You don’t get to do this stuff for this many years without someone being aware that there’s some problem somewhere.”
Druso also said the victims felt uncomfortable talking about these encounters back then but are now finding an opportunity to share their stories, which are extremely graphic and traumatic.
“He always, from the time we first started tryouts, would say if you made the team you have to wear jock straps,” one victim told Salem News. “He was very big into jock straps. Later I found out why.”
The victim, identified as John Doe 1002, recalled one instance where Toltz called him into his office, pulled down his pants and grabbed his genitals.
"It was probably 10 seconds but it felt like 10 minutes," he told the outlet. “It was the scariest thing I ever experienced.”
Toltz then ordered the victim to have a jockstrap from that point on. The victim kept quiet about Toltz's inappropriate behavior at the time, but now wants to use his experience to help other victims.
“If I can change one kid’s life, it will be worth it,” he said. “I want him behind bars."
A Facebook group, called the Victims of the Peabody, Ma. School System, features numerous more accounts of Toltz's treatment towards his students. The group had 850 members at the time this article was published.
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