St. John's Prep Teacher Accused Of Child Sex Abuse In Baltimore In 1980's

DANVERS (CBS) - A teacher at St. John's Prep in Danvers is now on administrative leave while police in Maryland look into allegations he sexually abused a minor in the 1980's. Brother Robert "Bob" Flaherty has been a computer science teacher and coach at the all-boys school for 16 years.

Flaherty joined the Xaverian Brothers in 1979 and taught at Mount St. Joseph in Baltimore from 1980-1993. He started at St. John's in 1999, went back to Mount St. Joseph in 2008 for two years before returning to St. John's in 2010. He was on staff there until four days ago.

"Now an allegation has been made against someone that has been here for a while. Someone that we all know and it's heartbreaking," St. John's headmaster Dr. Ed Hardiman told reporters Wednesday. "Once we found out, we put our protocols into place and brother was placed on immediate indefinite administrative leave and he left campus and is no longer here in Massachusetts."

Hardiman said there are no allegations involving St. John's students and Flaherty.

"We emailed our community last night and a number of emails that came back, the sentiment was Brother Bob was a great teacher, a great coach.  He was someone who really had an impact on me," the headmaster said.

Read: Xaverian Brothers Baltimore Statement (.pdf)

The allegation was reported to Baltimore Police and there is no timetable for the investigation. Hardiman said they will update parents and the public when it is finished.

St. John's Prep is an all-boys Catholic high school and middle school, with approximately 1,500 students in grades 6-12.