Teacher accused of sex assaults

LOWELL -- For Massachusetts chess lovers, Severine E. Wamala was a beacon, organizing local tourneys that drew internationally ranked masters to play the game that the Ugandan immigrant revered.

Lowell High School students knew the 45-year-old math teacher as a nattily dressed taskmaster who insisted on excellence and could explode in rage when he caught students slacking off. Earlier this month, he was named head of Lowell High's math department.

But for three young women, New Hampshire police and prosecutors said yesterday, Wamala was a terror.

Authorities allege he repeatedly sexually assaulted and molested the women, who range in age from 15 to 23. One victim said Wamala began assaulting her when she was 10, police and prosecutors said.

At his arraignment in district court in Nashua yesterday, Wamala pleaded not guilty to 30 charges of sexual assault, each of which carries a maximum punishment of 10 to 20 years in prison. He was ordered held on $1 million cash bail.

Wamala, who recently moved to Nashua from Lowell, told police he gave the alleged victims ``special hugs" and extra affection, but never engaged in sexual activity with them, according to court documents.

The Globe does not identify victims of alleged sex crimes without their permission. The assaults did not involve his students at Lowell High, where he had taught for three years, police said.

The charges stunned and alarmed those in Lowell, where he was seen as an American success story and a figure of considerable intellectual stature.

``Charges such as these are traumatic and troubling," said Lowell's superintendent of schools, Karla Brooks Baehr, who said the school district had made counselors available to students.

``Our first concern is the safety of our children, and we have put steps in place to provide support," she said.

The sexual assault allegations came to the attention of Nashua police after one of the victims told a sibling that she had been molested, according to court documents. The sibling alerted police on Monday night.

Lowell police and the Middlesex district attorney's office said yesterday that they had launched an investigation to determine whether any of the alleged sexual assaults occurred while Wamala lived in Lowell. ``What has happened in Nashua has opened a whole new avenue of investigation," said Edward F. Davis III, Lowell police superintendent.

Court documents say some of the alleged assaults happened at an August 2005 chess conference in Phoenix.

Authorities would not say whether they are investigating if there are other victims.

Wamala, who was ordered yesterday to surrender his passport, arrived in the United States from Uganda in 1988 to seek an engineering doctorate at the University of Massachusetts at Lowell. After working in the computer industry, he enrolled in a National Science Foundation program for scientists interested in a midcareer switch to teaching.

Wamala, who became a US citizen, was hired at Lowell High in January 2004, said school officials.

The Lowell School District placed Wamala on paid administrative leave on Tuesday and will suspend him if he is indicted, Baehr said.

She also said that, in the aftermath of Wamala's arrest, the district would review its screening of job candidates, which includes checking a database of criminal records.

``The court records available to us at the time of hiring gave no indication of criminal charges or convictions," she said at a press conference yesterday afternoon.

However, she said, she found out yesterday that Wamala had a misdemeanor conviction in 1993. She would not offer any details, except to say it was not grounds for termination. She did not address whether that conviction would have barred him from being hired.

In addition, New Hampshire court records show Wamala had been arrested on charges including stalking and violating restraining orders, according to the Associated Press. No details were available.

Wamala's passion was chess, he said in an interview with the Globe two weeks ago for a profile of his 15-year-old daughter, who recently won the title of top-ranking female player in Massachusetts under 21.

His teenage son is also a seasoned chess competitor.

Wamala said that chess, which he learned as an undergraduate in Uganda, was central to his intellectual development. ``When I started playing chess, I stopped worrying about my education and I just did it," he said in the interview.

Wamala organized chess tournaments called the NorthEast Getaway, which drew ranked players from across New England and occasionally from overseas.

After living in Lowell since immigrating from Uganda, Wamala moved to Nashua last year after separating from his wife, Pamela Wamala, according to court papers. The couple declared bankruptcy in October 2005.

Some of Wamala's former students at Lowell High described him as short-tempered.

``He would get really mad real easily," said Heather Lowey, 16. ``He threw the grade book at us almost every week."

Elizabeth Jaiman, 17, who took Wamala's geometry class last year, said he was often volatile. ``One second he would be laughing, another second he would flip out," she said.

But other students said they were shocked by the charges against a man they considered a dedicated educator.

``He was a great, compassionate teacher," said Andrew Cupan, 16, a Lowell High junior. ``He cared for his students, and he wanted them to do well."

James Vaznis can be reached at jvaznis@globe.com., and Raja Mishra at rmishra@globe.com.