New lawsuit filed in Shattuck-St. Mary's sex abuse case
A former Shattuck-St. Mary's student who alleges that he was sexually abused by former teacher Lynn Seibel has filed a lawsuit that targets the Fairbault boarding school, MPR reports.
The complaint filed Monday in Rice County accuses the school of negligence and alleges that it did not protect students. The suit accuses the school of employing Seibel despite knowing of accusations of sexual abuse, MPR reports.
Shattuck-St. Mary's officials have denied knowing about sexual abuse. They did not respond to an MPR request for comment on the lawsuit.
The lawsuit does not identify the student, who attended Shattuck-St. Mary's when he was 13 to 18 years old, and he claims Seibel sexually abused him several times from 2000 to 2003, MPR notes. The student lived in a boy's dormitory that was supervised by Seibel, who lived in an apartment with his family in the dorm.
Seibel has said he is not guilty of the 17 felony counts he was charged with last year, in connection with the sexual abuse of six male students at the school from 1999 to 2003.
Shattuck-St. Mary's fired Seibel in August 2003 after school officials learned of child pornography on Seibel's school computer. Seibel, 71, who awaits trial in Rice County, had been a drama teacher at the school since 1992. Seibel is also an actor who has had a number of TV roles, including a turn as a naked teacher on "The Big Bang Theory."
