Case of Jason A. Lorich
(AKA: Jason Lorich)
Jewish Community Center of Greater Buffalo - Buffalo, NY
Teacher - Meadow Elementary School, North Tonawanda, NY
Teacher - Grant Elementary School, North Tonawanda, NY
Coach - North Tonawanda baseball league, North Tonawanda, NY
Camp Supervisor - Camp Centerland, Elma, NY
Convicted of molesting seven students. He is considered a level three sex offender, which is the most serious rank within the State of New York. He was released from prison on February 14, 2010. Around July 8, 2011 he was sent back behind bars, yet was released again.
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Table of Contents:
2001
- North Tonawanda teacher charged with sexual abuse (01/08/2001)
- Teacher Accused of Fondling Girl (01/09/2001)
- Police Say Other Pupils Were Abused By Lorich (01/10/2001)
- Teacher Is Described as 'Serial Pedophile" (01/11/2001)
- FBI to question youngsters about accused teacher (01/12/2001)
- Teacher's Camp Ties Probed (01/14/2001)
- Teacher waives hearing on sexual abuse charges (01/25/2001)
- Prosecutor Hoping For Guilty Plea By Teacher (03/15/2001)
- Teacher Pleads Guilty To Molesting Girls (04/26/2001)
2002
- Niagara County Honors Six Officers, Prosecutors For Service (05/26/2002)
2005
- Court Refuses To Dismiss Sex Abuse Suit (03/14/2005)
2006
- Settlements in Sex Abuse Cases Exceed $3.5 Million; Former Teacher Serving 10-Year Prison Sentence (01/22/2006)
2009
- Ex-teacher is rated a Level 3 sex offender (11/06/2009)
2010
- Abusive teacher Lorich out on parole (01/14/2010)
- Woman tries to sue school in claim over molestation (01/15/2010)
- Level 3 sex offender out of prison (02/14/2010)
- Former NT teacher who molested students is out of prison (02/15/2010)
- District sued over decade-old sex abuse: Convicted teacher paroled in February (11/25/2010)
2011
- Lorich Update: NT sex offender sent to Falls (02/15/2011)
- NT sex offender back behind bars (07/08/2011)
- Appeals ruling dashes bid to halt sex abuse suit (10/09/2011)
- NT district's attempt to shoot down lawsuit quelled (10/10/2011)
- Woman sues school district over sex abuse accusation (10/15/2011)
- New victim sues sex offender Lorich (11/25/2011)
2012
- Belated suits in teacher sex abuse at issue for N. Tonawanda district (04/16/2012)
2013
- Sex Offender Registry (12/23/2013)
2014
- $690,000 awarded to woman, 20, who was molested by N. Tonawanda teacher in 3rd grade (01/02/2014)
- The Buffalo News Runs Article on $690,000 Settlement Awarded to Alleged Child Molestation Victim Represented by Attorney Chris O’Brien (01/10/2014)
- New York Department of Corrections (01/11/2014)
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North Tonawanda teacher charged with sexual abuse
Buffalo News - January 8, 2001
A North Tonawanda elementary teacher was arrested over the weekend and was to be arraigned today on charges of having "inappropriate contact with a child."
Jason A. Lorich, 27, of First Avenue, North Tonawanda, was charged Saturday with first-degree sexual abuse and endangering the welfare of a child.
He was arrested by Detectives Edward Schintzius and Karen Dolan after an investigation, according to North Tonawanda police officials.
Lorich is a teacher at Meadow Elementary School.
He was immediately suspended by School Superintendent John George pending the outcome of the criminal case.
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Teacher Accused of Fondling Girl
By Jay Rey
Buffalo News - January 9, 2001
A North Tonawanda elementary teacher remains suspended and in jail on charges he fondled a young girl at Meadow Elementary School.
Jason A. Lorich, 27, of First Avenue, North Tonawanda, was arraigned in North Tonawanda Court on Monday after being charged with first-degree sexual abuse, a felony, and endangering the welfare of a child, a misdemeanor.
Lorich did not enter a plea Monday but will return to court on Jan. 25, court officials said. He is being held at Niagara County Jail in lieu of $25,000 cash bail or $50,000 bond.
Lorich, a third-grade teacher at the school, was arrested Saturday after an investigation by North Tonawanda detectives.
Police accuse Lorich of fondling the young girl on several occasions between March and June while at the school on Meadow Drive, according to court documents.
Police, who were contacted by the girl's mother, also accuse Lorich of putting his hand inside the girl's shirt on several occasions to rub her back, court papers said.
North Tonawanda police referred questions to the Niagara County district attorney's office, which did not return phone calls seeking comments Monday.
North Tonawanda Superintendent John H. George said he did not know about the investigation until after police arrested Lorich on Saturday. The school district also was trying to get more details about the investigation, George said Monday. The superintendent was unsure whether the girl -- whose age was not immediately known Monday -- was one of Lorich's current or former students.
George suspended Lorich, who was hired in June 1997. Under state Education Department law, the suspension has to be with pay, pending the outcome of the case, he said.
The investigation is continuing. Anyone with information about the case is asked to contact Detective Capt. Glenn D. Gardner at the North Tonawanda Police Detective Bureau, 692-4312.
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Police Say Other Pupils Were Abused By Lorich
By Lou Michel
Buffalo News - January 10, 2001
North Tonawanda teacher Jason A. Lorich was described today as a "serial pedophile" who has sexually abused at least four schoolchildren from elementary classes he has taught.
"We have determined Mr. Lorich is a serial pedophile who has abused numerous children," North Tonawanda Police Chief Carl W. Stiles said today.
Since Lorich's arrest last weekend, North Tonawanda detectives have interviewed a dozen children and found four who were inappropriately touched by the third-grade teacher at Meadow Elementary School, Stiles said.
Detectives executed search warrants over the weekend and confiscated computers at his home and from his classroom as well as "pieces of paper," according to Stiles.
For the next three weeks, authorities plan to interview 80 children who have been taught by Lorich since he was hired in 1997.
The interviews will be conducted by professional counselors rather than police officers.
"We're asking parents that they not approach their children on this. We're asking the parents to wait until after we've conducted our forensic interviews," Assistant District Attorney Caroline Wojtaszek said. "We've had some parents who had extreme concern."
Echoing the same concern that counselors interview the children, Niagara County District Attorney Matthew Murphy urged parents to cooperate and "bring their children to this child-friendly place.
A this point, Lorich has been charged in just one incident.
Lorich, according to law enforcement sources, has confessed to police that he inappropriately touched a young girl from Meadow Elementary School.
Lorich, 27, of First Avenue, North Tonawanda, remains in the Niagara County Jail, where he is being held in lieu of $25,000 bail or $50,000 bond.
North Tonawanda School Superintendent John H. George, who suspended Lorich, said he has held meetings with teachers and parents.
"I've met with the staff and a number of parents from Meadow Elementary School, and I will be attending tonight's regularly scheduled meeting of the Meadow Home School Association," George said Tuesday.
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Teacher Is Described as 'Serial Pedophile"
By Michel Lou
Buffalo News - January 11, 2001
It could take at least three weeks before North Tonawanda police know how many children an elementary school teacher had inappropriate sexual contact with, authorities said Wednesday.
North Tonawanda Police Chief Carl W. Stiles described Jason A. Lorich as a "serial pedophile" who has had inappropriate contact with at least four children since he started teaching for the North Tonawanda School District in 1997.
The situation was referred to only briefly during Wednesday night's meeting of the School Board.
"A certain amount of consternation . . . has been brought due to the situation with the Meadow School teacher," said board President Arthur G. Pappas. "The investigation is in the hands of the North Tonawanda Police Department and the Niagara County district attorney, and we have been asked by the Police Department to cooperate in their investigation.
"We are very concerned, as everyone in the community is," Pappas said. "We do have complete faith in how the Police Department is handling this."
After urging anyone with information to contact police or the district attorney's office, Pappas said: "They need the time to go through a very comprehensive and thorough investigation. They need this time, and we want to cooperate with them."
Police say they expect to interview more than 80 children whom Lorich has taught. The interviews, which have already begun, are being conducted in a "child-friendly" setting with assistance from counselors.
Lorich, 27, of First Avenue in North Tonawanda, was charged Saturday with inappropriately touching a 9-year-old girl he had taught at Meadow Elementary School in the 1999-2000 school year.
His victims, according to law enforcement officials, are 8 and 9 years old. Since the weekend, North Tonawanda detectives have interviewed a dozen schoolchildren and determined that Lorich improperly touched three others, Stiles said, adding that he believes that there are number of yet-unidentified victims.
The teacher's actions, police say, might not have been limited to young girls.
"We're looking at the possibility of both male and female children victims," said Detective Edward C. Schintzius, who began an investigation with Detective Karen M. Dolan last week after she received an anonymous phone tip about the alleged misconduct.
Lorich, a third-grade teacher for the past two years, also has taught first and second grades. In addition to Meadow Elementary School, he has also worked in North Tonawanda's Grant Elementary School.
On Wednesday, he was released from Niagara County Jail after posting $25,000 bail. While his case is pending, he will remain on a paid suspension. He has no prior arrest record, authorities said.
"At this point, the children and their families are our priority," said North Tonawanda Capt. Glenn D. Gardner, chief of detectives. "It's amazing how one person's actions can damage a whole community. We have a very professional teaching staff, and people move here for the school district."
Two computers seized from Lorich's home and his classroom will soon be examined by a computer expert to determine whether they contain additional evidence, police said.
Assistant District Attorney Caroline Wojtaszek urged parents to contact police and not discuss the case with their children until after authorities have talked with the children.
The reason for this measure, police explained, is to avoid planting suggestions in the minds of the youngsters that could lead to false accusations.
"We've asked the children not to talk to each other, and we've asked the parents not to talk with each other," Wojtaszek said. "We're trying to get a grasp on the magnitude of what has happened here, and it is tough working with children. We go at their pace."
A disturbing element in the unfolding events prompted Stiles, in a news conference Wednesday, to urge the parents of children with whom Lorich might have had contact to call police.
"What has concerned us very much is some of the feedback that we've gotten from at least a few of the parents that 'I don't want the police talking to my kids about that kind of stuff. I know if anything like that happened, my kid would have told me. It was probably one isolated incident; maybe the kid's lying,' " Stiles said in pointing out that all of the children identified so far never told their parents about the incidents.
News Staff Reporter Janice L. Habuda contributed to this report.
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FBI to question youngsters about accused teacher
Buffalo News - January 12, 2001
FBI agents Thursday joined the North Tonawanda police in investigating elementary teacher Jason A. Lorich.
The agents from the Buffalo office will interview a youngster living in a Southern state to determine whether that child was inappropriately touched in a sexual manner by Lorich, who has already been charged with touching a former pupil at Meadow Elementary School, according to police.
"The child formerly lived in Western New York and now lives in a Southern state," said North Tonawanda Detective Edward Schintzius. "The FBI will be interviewing the parents and the child."
Local FBI agents will also examine computers seized from Lorich's classroom and his North Tonawanda home on First Avenue, according to Schintzius.
"The FBI will be determining if there is any kiddie porn in the computers and if any federal violations have occurred," the detective said.
The 27-year-old teacher has been suspended with pay.
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Teacher's Camp Ties Probed
by Lou Michel - News Staff Reporter
Buffalo News - January 14, 2001
Jason A. Lorich, a North Tonawanda elementary-school teacher accused of sexually abusing a third-grade girl and suspected of abusing other pupils, also supervised children at a summer camp and in youth sports programs, authorities say.
Police expanded their investigation late last week, seeking youngsters who may have had contact with Lorich through a North Tonawanda baseball league, where he served as a coach, and at Camp Centerland, a summer day camp in Elma.
"Outside of school in the summer, he worked in youth sports and at a day camp organization," said North Tonawanda Police Capt. Glenn D. Gardner. "This expands our police investigation to different avenues and different jurisdictions."
North Tonawanda investigators will be working with Amherst police this week in probing Lorich's employment as a camp counselor in the summers of 1996 and 1997. The camp's administrative offices are situated in Amherst.
"I'm sure I checked his references, and they were acceptable for him to be hired as a counselor," said Susan Hyman, director of the camp, which is operated by the Jewish Community Center of Greater Buffalo.
She declined to comment on his job performance, but noted background checks on prospective camp counselors include calls to three former employers.
As the investigation broadens, so does the number of victims, authorities said.
Investigators now say they have identified five children who told police that Lorich inappropriately touched them in a sexual manner. In addition, two other youngsters may have witnessed some of the incidents in his Meadow Elementary School classroom, authorities said.
So far, Lorich, 27, is charged with felony sex abuse for inappropriately touching a 9-year-old girl he taught last school year. His lawyer, James Harrington, would not comment.
Lorich confessed to inappropriate behavior with the 9-year-old, according to law enforcement sources.
No one saw this coming
The No. 1 question people in North Tonawanda and elsewhere are asking themselves is, how could this happen?
A physically imposing man at 6 feet, 2 inches tall and 320 pounds, Lorich towered over the children he taught. He was known as a dedicated and caring teacher whose peers respected him, police and school officials said.
No one imagined that he would face such charges. But, police said, it has turned into a nightmare not only for parents, but for other teachers and investigators.
"He's friendly and yet has an intimidating manner," said Gardner, chief of the North Tonawanda Detective Bureau. "He has a manipulative personality that allows him to put on the persona of the good teacher."
A native of North Tonawanda, Lorich made a name for himself several years ago while still in college and student-teaching in his hometown school district, where he still lives on First Avenue.
Teachers gave him solid reviews, and he was able to parlay them into a full-time job in 1997, shortly after college graduation.
After one year of teaching first grade at Grant Elementary School, he obtained a transfer to Meadow Elementary School, which many consider the district's flagship elementary school.
"He was very well liked by students and his peers," said North Tonawanda School Board member Ernest R. Green, who served twice as board president. "He was never a problem. As a matter of fact, he showed every indication of being an exceptional teacher. He made learning interesting by doing fun projects with the students."
Lorich, a bachelor who lives with his mother, sailed through his probationary appointment as a teacher and was awarded tenure after his third year with the district.
Green, who is also a lieutenant in the North Tonawanda Police Department, said no one saw anything out of the ordinary. Nor did those who knew him in childhood, growing up on the avenues of the city's 2nd Ward. They say he was a good kid. As a young adult, Lorich was described by neighbors as polite and low key.
New teachers hired by the school district, Green explained, receive close scrutiny by school supervisors and fellow teachers.
"If you're a teacher, you're bound by law to report abuse if you suspect it," said Green, who noted that all prospective district teachers must submit to a police background check before they are hired.
Lorich, authorities said, had no police record.
"I don't know what more we could have done," Green said.
Pedophiles play mind games
Manipulation is the chief tool of individuals who sexually assault children, according to police and psychologists.
Through playing mind games with the youngsters, the pedophile is able to hide his or her acts.
"There are two different forms of control. One is the utilization of fear, and the other is engaging the child in role-playing by leading them into thinking they are learning something," said Sister Noreen McCarrick, a Catholic nun who works as a child psychologist.
"Young children don't generally know what sex is. They only know if something hurts or feels good. Even if they've been taught to avoid touch in certain areas, there is the power of pretending to teach, telling a child they are learning something special that 'other children don't normally learn at your age.' "
To cover the crime, the pedophile often uses coercion.
"This usually involves telling them other children will be jealous of them or that the parents will be mean to the teacher if they say anything," said McCarrick, who formerly served as director of Martha Beeman Clinic, a Niagara Falls facility for children, and currently works with the Western New York Institute for Psychotherapies.
Signs that may offer clues
Even if school districts required intensive psychological screening, McCarrick said, there is no guarantee that pedophiles would be identified in the hiring process.
"If the behavior has not already begun, predicting it is less likely," she said. "This activity begins when the person gets into a position of power over children."
Though there isn't a precise psychological profile for the behavior of a pedophile, there are some telltale signs of the behavior, added Kenneth Condrell, a child psychologist with practices in Williamsville and Orchard Park.
The common characteristics include:
- A history of being physically or sexually abused as a child.
- Tending to live a socially isolated life as a loner.
- Sometimes abusing alcohol or drugs.
"They tend to be insensitive to the consequences of their behavior," said Condrell. "Lots of times, there is some kind of mental illness going on and they seem to have an abnormal interest in children."
Often, he said, the child is in the grasp of a pedophile before he or she realizes it.
"They tend to win them over, seduce them, and the children drop their guard and get involved before they realize what's happening," Condrell said.
Children remained silent
In the case of Lorich, none of the children told a parent what had happened, according to police, who received an anonymous telephone tip that something was amiss.
Police have declined to comment on whether Lorich used a ploy to win children over.
But they said that in some of the interviews conducted by North Tonawanda Detectives Edward C. Schintzius and Karen M. Dolan, the children have hugged the officers after revealing what has happened to them.
"Can you imagine unloading your darkest secret?" asked Gardner, chief of detectives. "They want to hug the detectives when they are finished. They tell the detectives that they feel better now that they have told someone."
This same act of human tenderness, so often a part of a teacher's life in working with young children, has educators in North Tonawanda
worried.
At the request of Dr. John H. George, North Tonawanda schools superintendent, detectives have met with teachers at Meadow and Grant schools, where Lorich taught.
Teachers who hug children or place a reassuring hand on the shoulder of a child working at a desk do not want their well- intended actions misconstrued, Gardner said.
"We've told the teachers, don't change your teaching habits. You've done a great job all these years," said Gardner. "We don't want teachers becoming victims because of what's happened."
Parent cooperation urged
At the same time, police are continuing to urge parents to come forward if they think their child had any contact with Lorich. The goal is not only to continue building a criminal case, police say, but to provide counseling for youngsters with the hope of short circuiting future emotional problems.
There has been some resistance.
A few parents have told investigators that, if something had happened to their child, the child would have told them already, according to North Tonawanda Police Chief Carl W. Stiles.
That type of parental reaction is not uncommon, according to Lisa Bloch Rodwin, chief of the Erie County district attorney's Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Bureau.
"The numbers of persons who sexually assault children are so shocking. People don't want to believe it's happening," said Rodwin, whose office investigates 400 to 500 complaints yearly. "They don't want to believe it, because the perpetrator is usually someone known to them. It's someone who has contact with the child."
Rodwin offered an example that gave her nightmares for months.
"It involved a 2 1/2-year-old girl who was baby-sat by the boyfriend of the child's mother," said Rodwin, who explained that the boyfriend taught the toddler to perform sexual acts. "I found out because, when the mother brought the girl to me, she went to an anatomically
correct doll and started acting out on the doll."
Because of the child's age and a lack of eyewitnesses, Rodwin said, there was no prosecution. But authorities obtained a court order prohibiting the boyfriend from having further contact with the child and her mother.
Closer scrutiny scheduled
Citing new regulations from the state education commissioner, City of Tonawanda School Board President Thomas Balk said there is hope that a better job can be done in screening prospective teachers.
"Beginning July 1, anyone seeking teaching certification will be required to befingerprinted, and those prints will be checked against state and federal criminal records," Balk said.
If it turns out the individual has a criminal history, Balk said, the state education commissioner will have the power to deny a teaching license.
"I think this is great," said Balk, a Buffalo Police Department detective. "We're protecting our children."
As for Lorich, Niagara County District Attorney Matthew J. Murphy III says that he believes police have built a strong case against the teacher and that it will conclude in a successful prosecution.
Lorich, who has been suspended from his job with pay, is scheduled to return to North Tonawanda City Court at 9:30 a.m. Jan. 25.
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Teacher waives hearing on sexual abuse charges
Buffalo News - January 25, 2001
A suspended North Tonawanda teacher waived a preliminary hearing on sexual abuse charges today as prosecutors say they expect the case to go to a Niagara County grand jury in coming weeks.
Jason A. Lorich, 27, of First Avenue, North Tonawanda, was continued on $25,000 bail by North Tonawanda City Judge Richard Kloch Sr., who ordered Lorich to have no contact with anyone under the age of 18, including relatives.
"They still have to interview some witnesses," said District Attorney Matthew J. Murphy III. "It should go to a grand jury in February or early March."
Assistant District Attorney Caroline Wojtaszek said prosecutors expect to bring charges in at least five separate cases.
Lorich, suspended from his job as a third-grade teacher at Meadow Elementary School, is charged with fondling a young girl at the school.
Detectives expect to interview more than 80 children, including youngsters in a North Tonawanda baseball league in which he served as a coach, and Camp Centerland, a summer camp in Elma where he was as a counselor.
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Prosecutor Hoping For Guilty Pleas By Teacher
By Thomas J. Prohaska
Buffalo News - March 15, 2001
The prosecutor in the case of a North Tonawanda elementary-school teacher accused of fondling students is hoping the defendant will plead guilty so the children do not have to testify.
The case of Jason A. Lorich, 27, was adjourned Wednesday in Niagara County Court. On April 25, Lorich is to appear to either plead guilty or refuse to do so, in which case the matter will be sent to a grand jury for indictment.
Assistant District Attorney Caroline A. Wojtaszek said she has evidence of "six felony-level victims" who were former students of Lorich's. However, so far, Lorich has been charged with improperly touching only one child. North Tonawanda police arrested him Jan. 6 and charged him with first-degree sexual abuse and endangering the welfare of a child.
That child was allegedly fondled several times between March and June 2000. Police and prosecutors interviewed Lorich's other current and former pupils to find more incidents. Wojtaszek said that even if Lorich decides to plead guilty, more charges will be entered against him.
Wojtaszek said if Lorich pleads guilty, he will plead to the felony charge or charges as filed. "We're not offering a plea bargain," she said. "We're not pleading the case down."
Lorich is suspended with pay from his job as a third-grade teacher at Meadow Elementary School. Since his hiring by the North Tonawanda district in 1997, he has also taught first and second grades and has worked at Grant Elementary School.
Wojtaszek refused to release any information on where Lorich encountered the other victims. Besides his teaching job, Lorich was a youth baseball coach in North Tonawanda and a summer counselor at Camp Centerland in Elma.
The teacher is free on $25,000 bail, but he did not appear in court Wednesday. Wojtaszek said defense attorney James P. Harrington told his client that he did not have to come to court. That annoyed County Judge Sara Sheldon Sperrazza, who told Harrington to make sure that Lorich shows up April 25.
Harrington declined to comment to reporters. He met with Sperrazza, Wojtaszek and District Attorney Matthew J. Murphy III in the judge's chambers for more than half an hour before the court appearance.
Wojtaszek said that during the next six weeks, Sperrazza wants to review as much information about the case as possible to decide whether she will accept a plea. Wojtaszek said she intended to call all the alleged victims' families and invite them to send letters to the judge.
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Teacher Pleads Guilty To Molesting Girls
By Thomas J. Prohaska
Buffalo News - April 26, 2001
North Tonawanda elementary school teacher Jason A. Lorich admitted Wednesday that he molested six girls in his third-grade classes between May 1999 and December 2000.
Lorich will be sentenced to 10 years in state prison at 9 a.m. May 11 by County Judge Sara Sheldon Sperrazza. The judge said she had committed to that sentence as part of a plea arrangement.
In exchange for Lorich's guilty plea to six counts of first- degree sexual abuse, Assistant District Attorney Caroline A. Wojtaszek said Niagara County and federal prosecutors had agreed not to pursue child pornography possession charges against Lorich.
Also, the district attorney's office will let drop five misdemeanor sexual abuse charges involving other children Wojtaszek said Lorich molested.
Lorich, 27, of First Avenue, North Tonawanda, had to agree to surrender his state teaching license "and agree not to ever work with children throughout the United States," Wojtaszek said.
Lorich had been suspended with pay from his job at Meadow Elementary School, but Bernard B. Freedman, an attorney for the North Tonawanda School District, said the guilty plea and surrender of the teaching license automatically ended Lorich's salary.
Defense attorney James P. Harrington said after court, "Jason is very remorseful."
In court, Lorich answered Sperrazza's questions in a clear voice as the judge demanded details about where he "fondled and manipulated" the girls. But his voice cracked slightly as he answered Sperrazza's request for a plea with the word "Guilty."
Harrington urged Sperrazza to let Lorich remain free on $25,000 bail pending his formal sentencing so Lorich could get his affairs in order. But Sperrazza sent Lorich straight to the County Jail.
"Now the families and the community can get on with healing the children," Wojtaszek said. "This entire community has been devastated by the actions of one person."
Family members declined to speak, but North Tonawanda Detective Karen Dolan, one of the investigating officers, said, "It's my understanding that all the families are satisfied."
Wojtaszek and Harrington said the district attorney's original offer was the one Lorich accepted, unchanged by any negotiations. Prosecutors had been hoping Lorich would plead guilty so the children would not have to testify in a grand jury or at a trial.
Wojtaszek said FBI agents had discovered child pornography that Lorich had obtained from the Internet on his home computer. She said Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul Campagna had informed her that federal child porn charges would not be filed if Lorich pleaded guilty.
Wojtaszek said prosecuting state child porn counts or the misdemeanor sexual abuse charges would not have added to the length of his sentence, so they were let drop.
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Niagara County Honors Six Officers, Prosecutors For Service
By Thomas J. Prohaska
Buffalo News - May 26, 2002
Six police officers and a prosecutor received Law Enforcement Honor Citations from the Niagara County Legislature last week.
Their exploits ranged from saving residents from a burning apartment building to putting a pedophile teacher behind bars.
The award recipients were Sheriff's Deputies Patrick J. Needle and Ronald E. Sessman; State Trooper Jill A. Pezzino; retired Detective Ross E. McQuade of the North Tonawanda Police Department; Lt. Edward J. Ott of the Lockport Police Department; Lt. Leslie P. Kachurek of the Niagara Falls Police Department; and Assistant District Attorney Caroline A. Wojtaszek.
Needle and Sessman were honored for leading the evacuation of almost 60 residents from the three-story Sawyer Gardens senior citizen apartment complex in Wheatfield, which caught fire Aug. 13 after being struck by lightning.
Sheriff Thomas A. Beilein said the deputies told him that when they were on the third floor, they could hear the fire rushing along the ceiling above them.
Nevertheless, they completed the evacuation of the building, and no residents were seriously injured. However, one volunteer firefighter was stricken and died during the effort.
Pezzino was honored for two incidents: talking a man out of jumping off the North Grand Island Bridge on Feb. 10 and trying to save the life of a teenager who was shot in the head March 23 in Wheatfield.
Pezzino spent 35 minutes persuading the suicidal man not to jump into the Niagara River, starting about 1 a.m. Feb. 10, and finally persuade him to climb back over the bridge railing.
Six weeks later, Pezzino performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation in an unsuccessful attempt to save the life of Cole W. Aydelotte, 16, of Grand Island, who was killed in a game of "reverse Russian roulette" by a gun fired by a friend, Jack L. Lewis, 17.
"Although unable to save the subject's life, Trooper Pezzino's efforts at this horrific scene were nothing short of heroic," wrote Capt. Ralph E. Pratt, State Police Zone 1 commander, in nominating Pezzino for the award.
Wojtaszek was saluted for her successful prosecution of North Tonawanda elementary school teacher Jason A. Lorich, who is serving a 10-year prison sentence for sexually abusing six girls in his third-grade classes in 1999 and 2000.
Wojtaszek interviewed about 70 children, "each of whom has known this teacher and all of whom were devastated in their own way," she told the Legislature.
After nailing down the evidence involving the six victims, Wojtaszek got Lorich to plead guilty to the most severe felony count against him so the girls would not have to testify in a grand jury or in a trial.
McQuade retired in March after 24 years of police work in North Tonawanda. Chief Carl W. Stiles said McQuade worked with the county Drug Task Force for 13 years. During that time, McQuade "was involved in approximately 1,000 search warrants, 12 wiretaps and over 3,000 arrests," Stiles wrote.
In one of those searches in fall 1999, a suspect assaulted McQuade, and he suffered a ruptured bowel and nearly died. He was given last rites twice before finally pulling through and returning to duty after several surgeries.
Ott has been in charge of the Lockport police domestic violence program for three years.
Police Chief Neil B. Merritt said that Ott "has done an outstanding job coordinating the joint follow-up investigations with advocates from the YWCA, developing and sponsoring training, writing and administering our grants and in many instances, donating his own time and resources to make the program a success."
Kachurek was nominated for his service as co-director of the Niagara County Law Enforcement Academy. John P. DeMarco, acting Niagara Falls police chief, said in his nomination that Kachurek and his colleague, Sheriff's Department Capt. Thomas Beatty, have "developed the academy into one of the finest in New York State."
DeMarco wrote, "The best possible instructors have been brought in; new and innovative training has been created, all while operating with limited resources."
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Court Refuses To Dismiss Sex Abuse Suit
By Thomas J. Prohaska
Buffalo News - March 14, 2005
The North Tonawanda School District will have to argue its case in court if it wants to avoid paying damages to the parents of children sexually abused by teacher Jason A. Lorich.
In refusing the district's request to dismiss a lawsuit against it, an appeals court ruled last month that the standard to be used at trial is whether the district was as careful in protecting the children as a parent would have been.
A review of Niagara County clerk's records shows at least three lawsuits have been filed jointly against Lorich and the district by parents of Lorich's victims, all of whom were third-grade girls molested by Lorich between May 1999 and December 2000.
The files have been sealed by order of State Supreme Court Justice Amy J. Fricano, but one case surfaced last month, when the Appellate Division of State Supreme Court released a decision ordering the district to stand trial in that case.
Bernard Freedman, the district's attorney, said the ruling would likely serve as a precedent that would cover the other cases as well.
The district had appealed a Fricano ruling from December 2003, when she denied the district's efforts to have the allegations dismissed.
A unanimous five-judge appeals panel in Rochester upheld Fricano's ruling.
School Superintendent John George declined to comment, as did all attorneys in the case before the appeals court. Freedman said the district is being represented by lawyers retained by its liability insurance company.
Freedman said the plaintiffs are barred by law from specifying the amount of damages they seek.
According to the appellate ruling, the mother of one of Lorich's six victims is charging that the district was negligent because the principal of Meadow Elementary School, where Lorich was working, failed to react properly to a letter from Lorich to one of the girls.
The letter, intercepted by another teacher, seemed to incriminate Lorich.
As The Buffalo News reported in 2002, the letter read, in part, "I think all I wanted to know was if you were upset with me because of what we did."
The letter, found by another teacher next to a classroom sink Oct. 11, 2000, was turned over to Meadow Elementary School Principal Roy Seiwell. He reprimanded Lorich for inappropriate language.
Less than three months later, Lorich was arrested. He pleaded guilty to six counts of first-degree sexual abuse and was sentenced to 10 years in prison.
The suit alleges the district was negligent because "its school principal failed to protect plaintiff's daughter when he knew, or should have known, that she was at risk of being sexually abused by Lorich."
Lorich, 31, is serving his sentence in Wyoming Correctional Facility. He is eligible for parole in November 2009. His sentence expires in April 2011.
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Settlements in Sex Abuse Cases Exceed $3.5 Million; Former Teacher Serving 10-Year Prison Sentence
By Lou Michel
January 22, 2006
The children molested by a former North Tonawanda elementary school teacher have received more than $3.5 million in settlements so far.
And the litigation involving Jason A. Lorich, now serving a 10- year state prison term, may not be over.
“I’m unaware of any other local case where one teacher caused so much harm to so many children,” said Christopher J. O’Brien, an attorney who represented one of the girls from Meadow Elementary School.
Utica Mutual, the district’s insurance carrier, has paid each of seven victims $50,000 to $1.8 million, according to attorneys involved in the cases. The most recent was settled about three weeks ago.
“My case was the last one to be settled. Sadly it’s not an unusual story anymore with the number of freaks out there,” attorney Michael D. Braisted said Wednesday.
Lorich, who once was regarded as a popular teacher, inappropriately touched 8-year-old girls in his classroom from May 1999 to December 2000, authorities said.
In 2000, another teacher discovered a love note Lorich had written to one of the girls and brought it to the attention of the school principal, who notified the school superintendent.
In a civil case last May, former Principal Roy Seiwell testified that Superintendent John George instructed him to investigate the note.
As a result, the police were not contacted, O’Brien said.
Several months later, while treating the girl who received the note for a panic attack, a private counselor saw the note and contacted North Tonawanda police, an attorney in the case said.
Lawyers representing the children say the assaults could have been halted a year earlier if a telephone call from the mother of one the girls had been properly investigated.
The girl had come home from school crying after Lorich had taken her out of gym class and back to his classroom, according to Roland M. Cercone, the attorney who represented the child and her family.
“Lorich called the girl’s home later that day, and the girl refused the call,” Cercone said. “The next day, the mother called the school and told a [school employee] she thought something had happened.”
The mother, according to Cercone, said the school employee dismissed her concerns.
“The mom felt belittled and stupid for calling,” Cercone said. “When the daughter came home again crying later in the semester, the mother didn’t call the school because she felt foolish from the time before.”
Hugh M. Russ of Hodgson and Russ, the law firm retained by Utica Mutual to represent the district, said school officials were unaware of Lorich’s actions before the police became involved.
“The school district vehemently denied that it had notice of Jason Lorich’s behavior, but the district recognizes how emotional and harmful the cases have been for the students involved,” Russ said, “and felt it would be appropriate to settle the cases.”
Russ declined to discuss the amounts of the settlements “because of confidentiality orders.”
Utica Mutual, the school district’s general liability insurance carrier, paid the settlements, which started in May when a civil trial ended abruptly and the district settled with O’Brien’s client.
Since then, funds have been set up for each of the children so that education and counseling needs can be covered, lawyers in the case said.
David G. Heffler, who holds a doctorate in psychology and worked with some of the attorneys in the case, said the molestations have the potential to affect the children for life.
“No one has a crystal ball to tell you what that child’s life is going to be like, but what we know by experience, people can have problems throughout their whole life as a result of these abuses,” Heffler said. “I’ve seen some really horrible cases, and this was among the more serious cases.”
O’Brien said the assaults represented “a terrible tragedy that has been turned around through people working in the system.”
He praised State Supreme Court Justice Richard C. Kloch for supporting a request by his client’s mother that the North Tonawanda School District provide training to all current and future employees on handling abuse allegations.
When O’Brien, who has handled a number of cases involving molestation of children, was asked if other suits will be brought against North Tonawanda School District, he declined to comment.
As a result of the Lorich assaults, State Sen. George D. Maziarz said he is sponsoring legislation to require special training to spot sexual abuse in school districts and require immediate action.
“This would be part of the certification process statewide for both administrators and teachers,” said Maziarz, R-Newfane, who has met with the parents of some of the children, their attorneys and the prosecutor.
Maziarz said that though the North Tonawanda School District insurance carrier has paid the settlements, “it will be reflected in higher insurance premiums to the district.”
But more important than the money, he said, “is somebody failed these children.”
George, the district’s superintendent, was unavailable for comment.
Lorich, now 32, is serving his prison sentence at Cayuga Correctional Facility. His earliest possible release date is Nov. 14, 2009.
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Ex-teacher is rated a Level 3 sex offender
Buffalo News - November 6, 2009
LOCKPORT -- Jason A. Lorich, the former North Tonawanda elementary school teacher who sexually abused some of his female students, was rated a Level 3 sex offender, the most serious type, in a brief proceeding Thursday in Niagara County Court.
Lorich, 35, is to be released from prison in January, although he will be under specialized parole supervision until April 2014, Judge Sara Sheldon Sperrazza said.
Lorich pleaded guilty in 2001 to six counts of first-degree sexual abuse for incidents with girls at Meadow Elementary School in 1999 and 2000.
"I'm a completely different person than I was," Lorich said when Sperrazza asked him why he committed the crimes.
Seven victims were paid a total of more than $3.5 million to settle civil suits against the school district.
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Abusive teacher Lorich out on parole
By Eric DuVall and Neale Gulley
Tonawanda News - January 14, 2010
Today, a decade after he serially molested six girls while a teacher at Meadow Elementary, Jason Lorich steps out from behind bars.
For his victims and their families, it is a day they knew would eventually come.
For the North Tonawanda community it is a day that provides an unwelcome reminder of a case that shocked so many and brought to bear questions about the ultimate safety of any child.
Jason Lorich was once a young, well-liked teacher at the North Tonawanda school. It was there that he maintained his facade long enough to do untold damage to six young girls.
Lorich pleaded guilty in 2001 to six counts of first-degree sexual abuse. For the mother of one of his victims, speaking on condition of anonymity to the Tonawanda News the night before his release, Lorich’s conviction and the ensuing civil cases against the North Tonawanda school district have provided little closure.
Her daughter, now in college, struggled for years to come to grips with the horrific experience.
“She’d be walking up our stairs to go to bed and she’d see him at the top of the stairs. We went to Myrtle Beach and she saw him at a gas station,” she said. “People do not understand — I would never have understood the after-effects it has on families. ... She deals with it every day.”
Now, this mother says her daughter just wants to forget.
His release
Lorich, now 36, served eight-and-a-half years of a 10 year sentence for his plea to first-degree sexual abuse charges. He has been labeled a level three sex offender, the most serious of three possible categories following a recent hearing in front of Niagara County Court Judge Sara Sheldon Sperrazza. He will have several parole conditions relating to his post-release conduct.
Unlike recent stories grappling with the post-release conditions of James McKinney, another North Tonawanda sex offender, the state has made no attempt to commit Lorich to civil confinement based on a mental abnormality that would make him highly likely to repeat his crimes.
Those familiar with the legalities of the case seemed to differ on whether he would meet with the specific, rigid standards required for the state Attorney General’s office to seek to have a sex offender held in a mental institution after his prison sentence has expired. One person familiar with the case who would not speak on the record because they aren’t involved in the decision to petition for civil confinement, expressed shock that a person with Lorich’s history of serial abuse wouldn’t be a candidate. Another who also asked not to be quoted on the matter said Lorich simply doesn’t meet the required specifications.
Either way, Lorich will likely be back in North Tonawanda soon according to Police Chief Randy Szukala, who said he was well aware of Lorich’s pending release.
Precisely where he will live is unknown. Prior to his release he had been living with family on First Avenue in North Tonawanda. Sex offenders are required to register with local police and remain in periodic contact, but that process won’t begin until at least today.
“They don’t actually have to register until their release,” Szukala said.
He said Lorich will have to abide by all the terms of his parole and his place of residence is subject to a city ordinance that limits him from living within 1/4 mile of any school, daycare center, playground or park. The police department’s juvenile aid division will keep tabs on Lorich, including random checks on his residency, in addition to the supervision provided by the parole officer assigned to the case.
Szukala said he doesn’t believe Lorich, with all the eyes on him, will make for a threat to public safety, though he acknowledged that residents are likely to be uneasy knowing he’s back in North Tonawanda.
“I don’t think the public will ever be comfortable knowing this is a sex offender (living here),” he said. “Unfortunately, people, when they’ve done their time for their crime and they’re free, they need to enjoy a certain amount of rights. There’s only so much the law can really restrict them from doing.”
His crimes
The abuse was thought to have begun while Lorich was a second-grade teacher. He was elevated to third-grade and kept the same class the following year.
How district personnel handled the case was the subject of considerable debate — and a slew of lawsuits from the victims’ families that resulted in a $3.5 million settlement.
Though the abuse was thought to span the two years, questions were raised well before Lorich’s arrest.
In court documents from the civil trial against the district before state Supreme Court Justice Richard Kloch in 2005, the attorney representing a set of victims outlined the discovery of a disturbing note from Lorich to one of the girls.
Attorney Christopher O’Brien refers to an instance in October 2000, when then-Meadow Elementary substitute teacher Kathie Regan entered Lorich’s classroom and noticed a crumpled up piece of paper next to a sink in the back of the room.
In the court transcript, O’Brien said:
“The note is addressed to a student who we’ll only refer to as student B. This is not her case. This is a fourth-grade girl. And it says dear student B, and the note goes on, and as she reads it, Kathie Regan, she’s shaken by it. She’s upset by this note. She reads: ‘I’m disappointed. I’m glad you wrote back but I’m disappointed. I’m disappointed because I made you feel uncomfortable,’
“And it includes a line that says ‘I thought you enjoyed yourself and I would never have done anything if you didn’t want to ’cause I care about you very much.’ Big letters, underlined. It’s a love note from one student to another. But no. Because when Kathie Regan gets to the bottom of that note, it’s signed ‘love Mr. Lorich,’ — a teacher. A teacher wrote that note.
“Regan took the paper immediately to a colleague. Principal Roy Seiwell walks in. They go to his office across the hall.
‘I’ve never had anything like this before,’” O’Brien quotes the principal as having said.
Seiwell questioned Lorich and the student identified in the note, but both denied any problems. The parents of the girl sought counseling for their daughter for her strange behavior and the victim told her counselor about the note. The counselor sought a copy from the school and immediately contacted police on the suspicion something was terribly wrong.
That day, Lorich was in custody.
Aftermath of the crime
With such heinous accusations — and an ultimate guilty plea — the question is begged: How is Lorich out of prison so soon?
Caroline Wojtaszek, Niagara County assistant district attorney and the prosecutor assigned to the Lorich case, recalls some “painstaking” decisions.
It was clear from the onset that some of the victims’ cases were easier to prove than others. It was also clear that if the families sought prosecution to the fullest extent of the law, their children who had already been through so much would have to take the witness stand.
Likening it to “Sophie’s choice,” Wojtaszek said meetings were arranged with each of the families individually and one collectively to decide on a path for prosecution.
“There was differing degrees to which families felt comfortable having their children testify,” she said. “It was a painstaking process very vivid in my mind.”
Eventually the collective decision was to spare the children from having to relive their horrific experience, even if in so doing it meant settling for leveraging a lighter sentence for Lorich through a plea deal.
“Never in my history still to this day have I had a case where we had parents, out of concern for their child, actually ask the judge to agree to a time frame for the sentence to ensure their child would not have to go through testifying,” the veteran prosecutor recalled.
“At the time 10 years seems so far away — and here it is.”
Now the victims and their families, many of whom have left the area, are dealing with the knowledge that Lorich is, parole conditions notwithstanding, a free man.
For the mother who spoke to the News, it reinforces a sense of helplessness that’s been all too common in dealing with the fallout from Lorich’s crimes.
Now, with no recourse against the decision to grant parole, she said the support group she had once attended alongside parents of the other five girls is no more.
Her options are limited. Her daughter is focused on the future, always doing her best just to move on.
“Who do you talk to? I can’t talk to my daughter, she just wants to forget,” she said. “At the time we were going to the support group the Montel Williams show contacted us and wanted us to talk but (we) declined because once you know who the parents are you know who the kids are.”
Efforts to avoid publicity aside, some still knew her daughter was one of the six victims and some classmates showed a stunning lack of sensitivity.
In the years to follow, hurtful comments and teasing by fellow students in middle school only added to the pain. Years later, in high school, her daughter had confided in her the mere sight of nearby Meadow school was unnerving.
In hindsight, she said she wished she had pulled her daughter from the school.
The mother endured what followed — heated debate by public officials stressing the need to report all inappropriate behavior immediately. Of course those were promises made by some of the same people who failed to help her daughter.
In those subsequent years, the girl’s mother had been repeatedly frustrated trying to advocate for her daughter, she said, who one way or another would be viewed by teachers and administrators as holding a kind of open secret — a walking reminder of one of the greatest collective failures any school can have.
She’s left with a system that failed, a criminal who’s now free and few with whom she can confide.
“I feel like I have no support, actually,” she said.
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Woman tries to sue school in claim over molestation
By Thomas J. Prohaska
Buffalo News - January 15, 2010
As child molester and onetime teacher Jason A. Lorich awaits release from state prison, an 18-year-old woman is trying to sue the North Tonawanda School District, claiming that Lorich abused her when she was in second and third grades.
State Supreme Court Justice Richard C. Kloch Sr. denied the request for the time being Thursday, but he said he would allow the girl's attorney, Richard G. Abbott, to try again to file a late notice of claim.
Kloch told Abbott he needs more background information, suggesting an affidavit from a North Tonawanda detective substantiating the girl's story and some medical records backing a claim that the girl repressed the story.
The school district's insurance company has paid settlements to seven girls who said they were molested by Lorich. Two of those cases were settled during trial, and the other five deals were made out of court. The Buffalo News has reported previously that the payouts totaled more than $3.5 million, but Hugh M. Russ III, an attorney for the school district, said Thursday he thought that figure was high.
Court files examined by The News show the girl simply denied the abuse occurred when she was questioned twice by police in January 2001.
Six other girls admitted being molested by Lorich in Meadow Elementary School in North Tonawanda between May 1999 and December 2000. In 2001, Lorich pleaded guilty to six counts of first-degree sexual abuse and was sentenced to 10 years in prison.
He was to have been paroled Thursday from Gowanda Correctional Facility, but Heather Groll, spokeswoman for the state Division of Parole, said Lorich is staying behind bars until Parole approves a place for him to live. Groll said Lorich won't get out until at least Feb. 1.
In an affidavit, the would-be plaintiff, now a college freshman, wrote that she didn't tell her mother of the alleged abuse until two months ago.
She claimed that Lorich, who was her teacher in both second and third grades, molested her at school from October 1998 through June 2000.
"I did not tell my parents [then] because I felt they would get mad and I wouldn't get out of elementary school. I didn't want people to look at me differently," the girl wrote.
She said she has had nightmares over the years that have intensified as Lorich's release date approached.
Her mother told Abbott that she noticed a change in her daughter's behavior in 2001, saying she became quieter and more introverted.
Abbott said the girl was in an enrichment program that required her to come to school early and stay late. "My client had the most chance of being molested [of any victim]," Abbott said.
The girl's affidavit doesn't mention the enrichment program. She wrote that Lorich would take her into an empty classroom during the school day, leaving the rest of the class with a teacher's aide, and fondle her.
"He told me that I had done something wrong and needed to be disciplined," she wrote. "Lorich warned me not to tell anyone and that it was a secret. Lorich was a huge, intimidating man [who] I have since learned was 6-feet-2, 325 pounds."
In his 2001 statement to police, Lorich said he had adult relationships in the past but his weight gain precluded him from having any more.
"[Molesting girls] started to happen because I gained lots of weight in the summer before teaching at Meadow School. I lost self-confidence, depression ensued, and I was looking for something I didn't have in my adult life," he told police.
Lorich, now 36, appeared to have lost considerable weight when he appeared in Niagara County Court two months ago to be rated a Level 3 sex offender, the most serious grade. "I'm a completely different person than I was," he said then.
Lorich will be under parole supervision until January 2013.
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Level 3 sex offender out of prison
Jason Lorich now living at 8800 N. Falls Blvd.
By Kate McGowan
WIVB TV - February 14, 2010
NIAGARA FALLS, N.Y. (WIVB) - The state parole board has confirmed that, 36-year-old JasonLorich was released on Friday from state prison, after serving overeight years for sexual crimes against children.
Lorich was convicted in 2001 on 6 counts of first degree sexualabuse.
Authorities said he molested several young female students whowere in his care.
According to the New York Department of Criminal Justicewebsite, the former teacher is now living at 8800 Niagara FallsBoulevard in Niagara Falls.
Authorities said the sexual abuse happened at the MeadowElementary School in North Tonawanda around ten years ago.
Several of his students came forward and said they were abusedby Jason Lorich on school grounds.
Before his arrest, he taught first, second and third graders atMeadow Elementary School.
Lorich is considered a level 3 sex offender, the most serious rank.
He'll be under supervised parole for the next three years.
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Former NT teacher who molested students is out of prison
Tribune Business News - February 15, 2010
A former North Tonawanda teacher convicted of molesting six female students at Meadow Elementary School has been released from prison and is living in a Niagara Falls motel, according to the state Division of Criminal Justice Services' Web site.
Jason A. Lorich pleaded guilty to six counts of first-degree sexual abuse in April 2001, and was sentenced to 10 years in prison. Lorich's victims were 8 and 9 years old at the time of the incidents, from May 1999 to December 2000.
Lorich, 36, was to have been paroled in mid-January, but was kept incarcerated at Gowanda Correctional Facility until the state Division of Parole approved a place for him to live.
He is rated a Level 3, or high risk, sex offender.
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District sued over decade-old sex abuse: Convicted teacher paroled in February
By Nancy A. Fischer
Buffalo News - November 25, 2010
A 19-year-old woman who claims she was abused by former North Tonawanda elementary teacher Jason A.Lorich filed suit Wednesday in State Supreme Court.
Lorich, 37, was paroled in February from prison, where he was sent to serve a 10-year sentence after pleading guilty to six counts of first-degree sexual abuse in April 2001. Lorich, a Level 3 offender, currently lives in Niagara Falls.
The woman said she was abused by Lorich when she was in the second grade but lied to police when she was first questioned in 2001, according to her attorney, Richard G. Abbott. Seven other former Meadow Elementary School students, who were abused when they were 8 and 9, received cash settlements after suing the district.
State Supreme Court Justice Richard C. Kloch Sr. ruled in May that the woman would be allowed to file a notice of claim, a preliminary to a lawsuit, against the district even though the normal legal deadline to file a lawsuit had long since passed.
"She kept this to herself until she got wind that Jason Lorich was going to be released," Abbott said. "That triggered a lot of psychological symptoms, and she then told her parents for the first time."
Abbott said there are no orders of protection against Lorich, but as a condition of his parole he is directed to stay away from his victims.
"He ultimately confessed to [abusing] some of the girls he molested, but not all of them," Abbott said. "We are claiming that [the school district] knew or should have known of this teacher's propensity for sexual abuse and they breeched their duty," Abbott said. "They're in a position, just like a parent, to protect young children. We feel they breeched that."
No trial date has been set.
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Lorich Update: NT sex offender sent to Falls
Niagara Gazette - February 15, 2010
Staff Reports
Former North Tonawanda teacher and sex offender Jason Lorich has been released from Gowanda Correctional Facility and is now living in Niagara Falls, according to a state Web site.
Current release details listed at www.criminaljustice.state.ny.us indicate Lorich’s address is a motel on the 8800 block of Niagara Falls Blvd. The closest listed motel is Eveningstar Restaurant and Motel, listed as 8810 Niagara Falls Blvd.
The Web site shows that address was confirmed Feb. 10. Early last week, the state’s division of parole spokeswoman Heather Groll said he would be released within the week.
Lorich is listed as a level three sexually violent offender, considered the most severe.
He has served eight-and-a-half years of a 10-year sentence for molesting at least six of his students while working as a teacher at Meadow Elementary School in North Tonawanda for about a two year period. Many of the victims’ families then sued the school district in a series of civil lawsuits. The criminal justice site lists six female victims, four of them 8-year-olds and the rest 9-years-old when the crimes occurred.
The 37-year-old Lorich was convicted in 2001 on six counts of first degree sexual abuse.
While he was scheduled to be freed under supervision Jan. 14, a decision ultimately was not reached by that date as to where he could legally live, since state and local laws usually require sex offenders to reside a certain distance away from schools, daycare centers and other such places.
While out, he is subject to post-release supervision until January 2013. Conditions include maintaining employment, abstaining from the use of alcohol, having no contact with children younger than 18 without supervision by an adult 20 or older; participating in sex offender treatment, random substance testing, adhering to a curfew and not holding a drivers’ license among other terms.
This is the second time within a year a North Tonawanda sex offender has been placed in Niagara Falls by the state Division of Parole. Last May, James McKinney, 51, was sent to the Midtown Inn on Niagara Street after serving seven years in prison for having sex with four girls younger than 14. All but one instance occurred in North Tonawanda.
McKinney’s placement in Niagara Falls sparked a summer-long protest by community members and some elected officials to have him and other registered sex offenders removed from the Midtown Inn, which is located less than a mile from Niagara Street Elementary School. In August, the Parole Division agreed to arrange other housing.
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NT sex offender back behind bars
By Neale Gully
Niagara Gazette - July 8, 2011
NORTH TONAWANDA — Former North Tonawanda teacher and sex offender Jason Lorich is back behind bars.
Information posted on the New York state Department of Corrections website lists the 38-year-old Lorich as in custody since February in Niagara County, though he had been released on parole last year to live under supervision at an address on Niagara Falls Boulevard.
It is not clear what led to Lorich being sent back to prison.
Lorich, who was convicted of first-degree sexual abuse in 2001, served eight-and-a-half years of a 10-year sentence for molesting at least six of his students while working as a teacher at Meadow Elementary school during a roughly two year period.
While on parole, he was subject to post-release supervision until January 2013. Conditions include maintaining employment, abstaining from the use of alcohol, having no contact with children younger than 18 without supervision by an adult 20 or older; participating in sex offender treatment, random substance testing, adhering to a curfew and not holding a drivers’ license among other terms. It is not clear whether Lorich violated any of the terms.
Richard Abbott, an attorney handling a lawsuit against the North Tonawanda school district on behalf of another alleged victim, now an adult, said school officials had confirmed Lorich was back behind bars at a recent meeting.
Abbott said a meeting with an attorney for the district is planned in the coming weeks to potentially settle the suit.
The state parole division could not be reached late Thursday. Information on the department’s website lists the reason for Lorich’s return to jail as “return from parole/conditional release.”
Lorich is listed as a level-three sexually violent offender, considered the most severe.
Many of the victims’ families had sued the city school district in a series of civil lawsuits following the incidents at the school. The criminal justice site lists six female victims, four of them 8-year-olds and the rest 9 when the crimes occurred.
Lorich was convicted in 2001 on six counts of first degree sexual abuse.
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Appeals ruling dashes bid to halt sex abuse suit
Buffalo News - October 9, 2011
NORTH TONAWANDA -- An appeals court has quashed the North Tonawanda School District's effort to stop a planned lawsuit by a former student who claims she was sexually abused by a teacher during the 2000-01 school year.
The Appellate Division of State Supreme Court ruled 4-1 that Justice Ralph A. Boniello III was right when he ruled in January that the 18-year-old plaintiff should be allowed to file a notice of claim, a mandatory preliminary to a lawsuit, after the legal deadline.
The woman signed an affidavit on her birthday last November stating she was repeatedly abused by Meadow Elementary School fourth-grade teacher Jason A. Lorich, who served nine years in prison for sexual abuse.
The district's insurer has paid settlements to seven women, with two other cases pending, including the one that was the subject of Friday's ruling.
"We certainly intend to go forward with the claim, and we hope the insurance company for the district will be helpful," said the woman's attorney, Christopher J. O'Brien.
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NT district's attempt to shoot down lawsuit quelled
By Michael Regan
The Tonawanda News - October 10, 2011
A 10-year-old sex abuse case is coming to light again, as two former North Tonawanda students are suing the district based on separate claims that they are victims of past improprieties by one-time teacher Jason A. Lorich, who already was convicted of assailing six third- and fourth-grade students at Meadow Elementary School in 2000-2001.
One lawsuit was first filed last November, after an 18-year-old plaintiff brought her alleged abuse forward, following the January 2010 prison discharge of Lorich, who had served 8 1/2 years of a 10-year sentence in state prison for six counts of first-degree sexual abuse.
The plaintiff acquired the services of an attorney one day after her birthday.
“He was released from jail and that caused a little bit of publicity,” said Christopher J. O’Brien, the plaintiff’s attorney. “That set it off and brought back a lot of bad memories (for her).”
Another plaintiff, a 19-year-old woman, filed an affidavit in late-April this year. Her attorney, Richard Abbott, said his client came forward because she was apprehensive about Lorich’s release.
“We have a conference with a judge in a week or so,” Abbott said. “There’s some work to do. There’s a lot of discovery that needs to be done.”
While Abbott’s client was not challenged by the district regarding the late filing, O’Brien said the district did seek an injunction with his client in an attempt to block a civil lawsuit after a petition was filed seeking a late notice of claim, which usually expires 90 days after an incident takes place.
“The school district was well within its right to appeal,” he said. “We don’t begrudge them that.”
Phone calls made to the North Tonawanda School District and its attorney were not returned.
Subsequent to a ruling by Justice Ralph A. Boniello III in January, which was appealed by the district, the Appellate Division of State Supreme Court ruled in a 4-1 decision Friday that he had made the appropriate legal conclusion in allowing the plaintiff to move forward with the case and file the late notice of claim.
“The decision by Justice Boniello was correct in our determination,” O’Brien said.
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Courts & Courts
Woman sues school district over sex abuse accusation
Buffalo News - October 15, 2011
NORTH TONAWANDA -- A week after the Appellate Division of State Supreme Court gave the go-ahead, attorney Christopher J. O'Brien said Friday he has filed suit on behalf of a Kenmore woman against the North Tonawanda School District over the alleged sexual abuse of a girl by a teacher a decade ago.
The girl, who turned 18 last November, hired O'Brien to pursue a claim against the district over alleged sexual abuse by Meadow Elementary School fourth-grade teacher Jason A. Lorich during the 2000-01 school year. Seven other former students have received cash settlements from the district, and one other case besides the Kenmore woman's is pending.
The school district appealed a ruling that allowed the Kenmore woman to file a late notice of claim, but the Appellate Division ruled 4-1 that the notice could be filed and the lawsuit could proceed.
Lorich, who was sentenced to 10 years in prison, is back behind bars until at least August 2012 for violating the terms of his post-release supervision.
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New victim sues sex offender Lorich
By Neale Gully
Tonawanda News - November 25, 2010
A new lawsuit was filed in Niagara County Wednesday by a woman claiming to be the eighth victim of abuse by former North Tonawanda teacher and registered sex offender Jason Lorich.
Lorich, a former Meadow Elementary School teacher, was released on probation in February after serving eight and a half years in prison. He was convicted in 2001 on six counts of first-degree sexual abuse stemming from incidents involving six of his students during a two-year period beginning in 1998.
Kenmore Attorney Richard G. Abbott, whose 19-year-old female client now claims to also have suffered abuse by Lorich, said he filed an official summons and complaint against the city’s school district Wednesday.
State Supreme Court Judge Richard Kloch ruled to allow a late notice of claim by the woman June 15, shortly after Lorich was released. Now the district will be served papers on behalf of the woman, who is seeking monetary damages.
The lawsuit alleges the district failed in its responsibility to keep the woman safe at school, based on claims the district should have known Lorich posed a threat regarding incidents that happened at the school in the presence of students and others.
“They allowed him to be alone with my client on numerous occasions,” Abbott said.
Lorich, in his late 30s, was released more than a year before completing his 10-year sentence for molesting six female victims, four of whom were 8 year old and the rest 9 when the crimes occurred.
He is listed as a level three sexually violent offender, considered the most severe.
The abuse was thought to have begun while Lorich was a second-grade teacher. He was elevated to third-grade and kept the same class the following year.
How district personnel handled the case was the subject of considerable debate — and a slew of lawsuits from the victims’ families resulted in a $3.5 million settlement.
Though the abuse was thought to span the two years, questions were raised well before Lorich’s arrest.
In 2001, the discovery of a disturbing note from Lorich to one of the girls seems to have set in motion events leading to his eventual arrest the next year.
The district will have 30 days from the time they are served to prepare a legal response to the latest suit.
In court documents from the civil trial against the district before state Supreme Court Justice Richard Kloch in 2005, the attorney representing a set of victims, Christopher O’Brien, refers to an instance in October 2000, when then-Meadow Elementary substitute teacher Kathie Regan entered Lorich’s classroom and noticed a crumpled up piece of paper next to a sink in the back of the room.
In the court transcript, O’Brien said:
“The note is addressed to a student who we’ll only refer to as student B. This is not her case. This is a fourth-grade girl. And it says dear student B, and the note goes on, and as she reads it, Kathie Regan, she’s shaken by it. She’s upset by this note. She reads: ‘I’m disappointed. I’m glad you wrote back but I’m disappointed. I’m disappointed because I made you feel uncomfortable,’
“And it includes a line that says ‘I thought you enjoyed yourself and I would never have done anything if you didn’t want to ’cause I care about you very much.’ Big letters, underlined. It’s a love note from one student to another. But no. Because when Kathie Regan gets to the bottom of that note, it’s signed ‘love Mr. Lorich,’ — a teacher. A teacher wrote that note.”
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Belated suits in teacher sex abuse at issue for N. Tonawanda district
By Thomas J. Prohaska
Buffalo News - April 16, 2012
The North Tonawanda School District continues to fight lawsuits filed by two young women who say teacherJason A. Lorich sexually abused them when they were third-graders more than a decade ago.
Although the district has settled seven lawsuits from Lorich's victims, reportedly for a total of more than $3.5 million, those cases were filed by the girls' parents soon after Lorich's arrest in 2001.
The two open cases were filed last year, when the girls turned 18, because their parents had never seen fit to bring suit.
"We take the position that 10 years is too long," the district's lead attorney, Hugh M. Russ III, said last week.
In the latest courtroom dustup, Christopher J. O'Brien, attorney for one of the new plaintiffs, accused the district of asserting that the girl was partly responsible for her own abuse.
O'Brien flared up when he read the district's sixth of 18 possible defenses: that any award of damages that the girl would receive should be reduced "in proportion that her culpable conduct, including contributory negligence or assumption of the risk, bears to the total culpable conduct found to have caused her damages or injuries."
Defense No. 7 in court papers was a contention that any damages "were caused in whole or in part by plaintiff's failure to take reasonable actions to avoid and/or mitigate the injuries or damages."
O'Brien declined to be interviewed, but he wasn't so reticent in court papers, where he accused the school attorneys of making an argument that was "more than just frivolous, it is morally reprehensible."
Pointing out that his client was 8 when Lorich allegedly abused her in his Meadow Elementary School classroom, O'Brien wrote, "The plaintiff cannot be accused of assuming the risk of being sexually assaulted."
State Supreme Court Justice Ralph A. Boniello III threw out the sixth defense -- Russ said he withdrew it first -- and edited the seventh.
"We by no means intended to contend the infant was to blame or partially to blame," Russ said.
In another filing, school attorneys argued that any mental, emotional or psychological problems the girl has could be attributed to her unmarried parents' breakup, neglect by her mother, and the girl's moves to attend two other high schools outside North Tonawanda.
"We were trying to reserve our right to prove the problems she has today were not or not all caused by Lorich's abuse," Russ said.
Also, the school is appealing Boniello's decision last year that the girl would be allowed to file a belated notice of claim.
The Appellate Division of State Supreme Court upheld Boniello's ruling on that topic by a 4-1 vote, but the school district is asking the state's highest court to review that decision.
The girl's lawsuit would be thrown out if the Court of Appeals were to reverse Boniello on the timeliness issue.
Russ said as time goes on, witnesses become unavailable and documents disappear. "We have no ability to investigate these allegations," he asserted.
Lorich, 38, is in state prison for violating parole on his original 10-year sentence. He has another chance to be released Aug. 1, if he succeeds at a Parole Board hearing in June.
Sex Offender Registry
December 23, 2013
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$690,000 awarded to woman, 20, who was molested by N. Tonawanda teacher in 3rd grade
Amherst woman, 20, in third grade at time
By Thomas Prohaska
The Buffalo News - January 2, 2014
NORTH TONAWANDA – A 20-year-old Amherst woman who came forward a decade after the fact to assert she was molested by her third-grade teacher in North Tonawanda has settled her lawsuit against the North Tonawanda School District for $690,000.
Hugh M. Russ III, attorney for the district, said it is the eighth settlement of suits from victims of Jason A. Lorich, the former teacher who served 10 years in prison for child sexual abuse. One suit remains open.
The latest settlement is believed to bring the total amount paid to Lorich’s victims over the $4 million mark.
Christopher J. O’Brien, attorney for the plaintiff, said the money comes from the school district’s insurance company, not from operating funds.
The deal, worked out with State Supreme Court Justice Ralph A. Boniello III, scrubbed a trial that was to have begun Jan. 27.
“The immediate prospect of a public trial does tend to sharpen the focus on settlement,” said Russ, a partner in the Hodgson Russ law firm.
The Buffalo News reported in 2006 that the first seven settlements cost more than $3.5 million, a figure Russ said was higher than the real number, but not drastically so.
The girl’s parents decided not to join the first wave of civil suits.
“At the time, her parents had opted not to bring legal action in the hope that things would calm down and she’d be better in the future,” O’Brien said.
The girl took a different view after she turned 18. O’Brien said his client came forward after hearing media accounts in 2010 of Lorich’s release from prison.
Russ said the statute of limitations for such claims is three years after the victim turns 18.
O’Brien twice won motions before Boniello for permission to serve a late notice of claim on the school district.
The Appellate Division of State Supreme Court rejected the district’s appeals, and the State Court of Appeals refused to accept the cases.
The incidents involving Lorich and the girls in his classes occurred in Meadow Elementary School between May 1999 and December 2000.
O’Brien said the victim he represents was 8 when Lorich fondled her “before school, during school and after school.”
Russ said, “The issue in this case, as in the others, was whether the district knew or should have known.”
O‘Brien said his client was fondled during class, as Lorich used to sit in a large armchair in his classroom and read the children stories.
“He would have one of the kids sit beside him,” the attorney said.
Lorich denied abusing this particular girl, although that seems to depend on how one defines sexual abuse.
“At his deposition, Lorich said he didn’t abuse her; he was grooming her to abuse later,” O’Brien said.
“For all his faults, Lorich has been consistent over the years about the girls he abused and the girls he did not abuse,” Russ said. “The grooming behavior arguably constitutes inappropriate touching. He denies more serious abuse.”
Lorich, now 40, settled the criminal case in 2001 by pleading guilty to six counts of first-degree sexual abuse.
He was paroled in January 2010, returned to prison as a parole violator in February 2011, and was freed again Aug. 1, 2012, according to the state prison website.
O’Brien said his client, the second one he has successfully represented in suits over Lorich’s crimes, is attending college.
“Her career goal is to become a nurse who works with victims of sexual abuse,” O’Brien said. “She wants to invest (the settlement) so she can pay for the nursing school she needs. … She’s handling this very maturely.”
The only lawsuit that remains open was filed by a young woman who is represented by attorney Richard G. Abbott.
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The Buffalo News Runs Article on $690,000 Settlement Awarded to Alleged Child Molestation Victim Represented by Attorney Chris O’Brien
A 20-year-old Amherst woman, who was allegedly molested in 3rd grade by her N. Tonawanda teacher, has been awarded $690,000 after filing suit. Attorney Christopher O’Brien of the O’Brien Firm PC represented her in the case.
PRWEB - January 10, 2014
On January 2, 2014, the Buffalo News ran an article regarding a case involving a client of Attorney Christopher J. O’Brien who was awarded a $690,000 settlement in a civil suit against the North Tonawanda School District (Doe v. North Tonawanda School District, Case No. 2011-145331, Niagara County, New York, Supreme Court, 8th Judicial District). The article states that Former North Tonawanda teacher Jason A. Lorich allegedly molested and / or sexually abused multiple young girls more than a decade ago, one of whom is O’Brien’s client. According to the article, O’Brien’s client came forward about her alleged molestation by Lorich after she turned 18, more than a decade after his alleged actions.
The young woman – 20 years old, as stated in the article – claims that she was fondled by Lorich “before school, during school, and after school.” The article states that Lorich had already pled guilty to six counts of first-degree sexual abuse in 2001 and served 10 years in prison for his crimes. In this recent case involving O’Brien’s client, she filed a civil suit against the North Tonawanda School District and was awarded a $690,000 settlement by the school district’s insurance (Doe v. North Tonawanda School District, Case No. 2011-145331, Niagara County, New York, Supreme Court, 8th Judicial District). According to the article, eight settlements have now been awarded for suits regarding Lorich’s alleged actions, coming to a total of more than $4 million combined.
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Inmate Lookup
New York Department of Corrections - January 11, 2010
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