Deal reached in second Steubenville rape case
Prosecutors have reached an agreement with a Steubenville, Ohio principal who is accused of failing to report information about the alleged rape of an underage girl in April 2012, according to the Ohio Attorney General’s office.
On Wednesday, Lynnett Gorman, principal of West Elementary school, was ordered to perform 40 hours of community service at a rape crisis cetner or victim's services center and speak to other school district employees about the importance of reporting child abuse and neglect. If she complete these tasks by June 1, the case against her will be dismissed.
The alleged rape is a separate incident from the August 2012 rape committed by Steubenville High School football players Trent Mays and Ma’lik Richmond. According to Dan Tierney, a spokesman for Ohio AG Mike DeWine, the April 2012 incident was reported to Steubenville authorities in September 2012, soon after the more widely known case was initially reported. Steubenville police subsequently asked the AG’s office to investigate both incidents.
Mays and Richmond were found delinquent (the equivalent of
guilty in Ohio’s juvenile courts) in the August 2012 rape of an
intoxicated 16-year-old at a party.
Very little has been reported about the alleged April 2012 rape. The Cleveland Plain-Dealer reports that the incident involved a 14-year-old girl who was allegedly raped by members of the Steubenville High School baseball team at a party, but no charges have been filed . Steubenville police referred questions to DeWine’s office, but spokesman Tierney said the AG cannot comment on the ongoing case.
What is known is that in the aftermath of the Mays and Richmond trial, DeWine convened a grand jury to investigate whether anyone else should face charges related to a possible cover-up of the August rape. In November, the grand jury issued indictments for four people, but only two indictments related to the crime that Mays and Richmond were convicted of perpetrating. Gorman and Michael McVey,
the superintendent of Steubenville schools, were charged in relation to the other incident which allegedly came to their attention in April 2012.
McVey was charged with tampering with evidence, falsification and obstruction of justice.
