A 14-year-old student at Sparkman Middle School told a teaching assistant that a 16-year-old boy with a history of sexual harassment and violent behaviour, had asked her for sex in the school bathroom.
The teaching assistant, June Simpson, decided to "catch the boy in the act" by having the young girl wait for him in the bathroom.
She allegedly told the girl: “Don’t do anything. Just get him to meet you and we’ll catch him.”
Simpson later told authorities that she watched security cameras but saw neither the girl nor the boy go into the bathroom, so she gave up and left.
However, the students had simply gone into a different bathroom, where the young teenager was then raped.
PICTURE SHOWS HORRIFYING MOMENT PARENTS LET BABY CRAWL ALONG CLIFF EDGE
The girl, who doctors confirmed suffered anal tearing and bruising, was withdrawn from the school and, according to a press release from the National Women’s Law Centre, she began struggling with depression.
After a criminal investigation resulted in no charges, the victim’s family filed a lawsuit against the school’s administrators. But the Northern District of Alabama District Court threw the case out.
June Simpson was placed on leave after the incident in 2010 and later resigned, according to court records.
However Principal Ronnie Blair and Vice-Principal Jeanne Dunaway, both of whom were made aware of the 'sting operation' and gave their approval, kept their jobs - and Dunaway, who testified that the 14-year-old “was responsible for herself once she entered the bathroom”, has even been promoted since.
MAN SEXUALLY ASSAULTS WOMAN ON TRAIN
WOMAN TAKES TO FACEBOOK TO SHOW AFTERMATH OF SHOCKING SEX ATTACK AT NOTTING HILL CARNIVAL
Now the Department of Justice have filed a lawsuit which states that the District Court made a mistake and that the case should be heard in a different court.
The National Women’s Law Centre have filed an additional lawsuit against the Madison County School Board, calling the administrations response "outrageous."
Fatima Goss Graves, NWLC Vice President for Education and Employment, said in the press release: "The school's policy that perpetrators of sexual harassment be 'caught in the act' allowed the school to turn a blind eye to ongoing sexual harassment and violence.
"This lack of accountability sends a troubling message to would-be perpetrators: As long as you're not caught, you'll escape all consequences."