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Brooklyn School Principal Accused Of Failing To Report Locker Room Gang Rape Of Female Student To Police

By Tara West
Published on: 03:29 PST, Jun 4, 2016

A Brooklyn school principal has been accused of failing to report a gang rape which allegedly occurred on the school premises. The Boys and Girls High School Principal Michael Wiltshire was allegedly informed by a female student of the school that she was gang raped by five football players in the school’s locker room. However, the New York Police Department says they were never notified of the alleged rape.

The New York Post reports that high school principal Michael Wiltshire is in hot water after a female student claims she notified the school officials of a rape on school property and it was never reported to police. A number of school officials, including the troubled principal, are accused of covering up the rape and failing to report it as government guidelines require.

The alleged rape reportedly took place in December of last year with a female student claiming she was gang-raped by five football players in the school’s locker room. The female student claims to have informed school officials of the rape which resulted in the principal meeting with the girl and her mother. Despite being told of the potential rape, those close to the investigation say that it was never reported to authorities as is required by government guidelines.

In fact, it was noted that per Department of Education guidelines, school officials must file an incident report in the DOE’s Online Occurrence Reporting System within 24 hours of being notified of an incident such as this on school grounds. However, no such report was created by the Boys and Girls High School in Brooklyn.

“We have clear reporting procedures to ensure incidents and misconduct are thoroughly addressed, and any failure to report is deeply concerning. We are reviewing this case and discipline is pending.”

To make matters more concerning, an investigator close to the case claims that Principal Wiltshire and his two female assistants, Cami Wittingham and Sherlene Thomas-Hughes, questioned the girl about her “consent” when she came to them about the rape. Despite consent or not, the alleged gang rape should have been reported to authorities for proper investigation by the NYPD’s Special Victims Unit.

It wasn’t until the Department of Education Superintendent Michael Alcoff was notified of the alleged rape by an anonymous caller that the incident was brought to light. According to the Daily Mail, Alcoff received an anonymous call about the rape and immediately confronted Wiltshire about the report. However, Alcoff says Wiltshire denied the allegations and claimed he knew nothing about the female student’s complaint.

Following the denial by Wiltshire, Alcoff turned the case over to the New York City schools’ Special Commissioner of Investigation Richard Condon for investigation. Following Condon’s involvement, the Department of Education’s Office of Special Investigations was referred the case. Now Wiltshire is under investigation and may lose his job.

Prior to the rape allegations, Wiltshire was praised by Mayor de Blasio and had applied for a job at a school in Long Island. However, with the new investigation into reporting issues at Boys and Girls High School, Wiltshire will likely have to hold off on any plans to change schools as he may face suspension or even firing over the incident.

If the principal was informed about the rape and did not report it to authorities, should he also face criminal charges for helping cover up a crime? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.

[Image by Bebeto Matthews/ AP Photo]

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