Elite Private School Admits To Covering Up Decades Of Child Sexual Abuse

Tuesday, June 16, 2015

GoLocalWorcester News Team

Thirteen women who suffered sexual abuse at the hands of a teacher at the American School In Japan (ASIJ), an elite Tokyo school which caters to children of international business executives, diplomats and missionaries, have finally obtained justice.

In this case, Crew Janci LLP represented the thirteen women from Massachusetts, California, Florida, Hawaii, Kentucky, Louisiana, Oregon, Texas, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin; and British Columbia, Canada.

"While we represented these thirteen women, there are still many other victims out there" Stephen Crew, an attorney for Crew Janci LLP, told GoLocalWorcester. "Part of the agreement and settlement with the school is that they have to reach out to the other victims that they know about and offer a helping hand, they also agreed to provide help to anyone else that comes forward."

The case was settled out of court. "It was at the request of the victims privacy, that we found a way to keep this out of court", Crew said.

The abuser, a teacher named Jack Moyer, admitted to sexually abusing numerous children as young as 11 and 12 years old – including forcible rape, sodomy and repeated molestation. Moyer was a famed marine biologist who spent 48 years teaching at ASIJ. During much of this time,

Moyer was allowed to take children to a remote island – ostensibly to study marine biology. There, he abused many of the young girls.

From the time of Moyer’s suicide in January 2004 until at least March 2014, the school continued to conceal the extent and scope of Moyer’s abuse and deny its responsibility.

Public Apology

Based on the investigative findings, the newly appointed Board of Directors for ASIJ recently issued a public apology, admitting that “teachers and administrators … failed to protect the students in their charge.”

“Jack Moyer’s abuse of students was extensive, and there were Heads of School, high-level administrators as well as teachers who were aware of information concerning abuse by Moyer,” the Board of Directors stated. “Survivors attempted many times to expose abuse, and we are ashamed to report that they were rebuffed or ignored by the school.”

The public apology is part of a unique resolution and reconciliation recently achieved between the victims and the school. Representatives from a newly elected Board of Directors flew from Tokyo, Japan, to Portland, Oregon, to meet with the survivors from May 31, 2015, to June 4, 2015.

The Board also agreed to reimburse all victims for past and future counseling costs, provide the 13 survivors with compensation for their injuries, release the results of the independent investigation commissioned by ASIJ in June 2014, and institute new and improved child safety policies.

Events Leading Up To Public Apology

As early as 1967, ASIJ first learned of Moyer’s inappropriate behavior with young female students – roughly three years before Moyer abused any one of the 13 victims in this case.

In the years that followed, ASIJ headmasters, principals and administrators received more than five dozen direct reports of Moyer’s ongoing sexual misconduct with students.

Multiple of the victims and their family members reported Moyer’s abuse to high-level ASIJ administrators during their attendance at ASIJ in the 1970s and 1980s.

Moyer confessed in writing to sexually abusing ASIJ students, including specifically identifying seven of these 13 victims by name.