School sex case probe extended

State officials said yesterday that they have extended their investigation into the case of a 15-year-old sophomore girl who repeatedly engaged in oral-sex sessions with varsity ice hockey players at Milton Academy.

Investigators at the state Department of Social Services, who normally would review school supervision in such cases, would not elaborate on the new information that triggered the extended investigation, but said it was troubling enough to cause concern.

''Any appropriate information that needs to be passed on will be," DSS spokeswoman Denise Monteiro said. That probably would include notifying the Division for Children, Youth and Families, the agency's counterpart in New Hampshire, where the girl lives, Monteiro said.

It is Globe policy not to name victims of possible sexual abuse or their family members without their consent.

A Globe review of court records in New Hampshire found that when the girl was about 11 years old, her father, a high school teacher, was forced to resign from a private school after he was accused of masturbating in front of female students. One student pressed charges, and the father was later acquitted of indecent exposure. He admitted, though, to fondling himself over his clothes in front of students.

In a letter to a school administrator, the father cited family problems and depression as reasons for the fondling, which he later said occurred on a day other than the one for which he was standing trial.

''Not an excuse, just an explanation," he wrote in the letter, a copy of which was obtained from the prosecutor in the case.

The girl, along with her brother, sat through her father's entire trial, according to newspaper reports.

Nine months after the fondling accusation, the father was accused of improperly touching another female teenager at a different private school, a police report shows. No criminal charges were brought in that case. The father still teaches at that high school.

Four years earlier, when the girl was about 7, her 15-year-old brother had sexual relations with a 38-year-old male teacher who was ultimately convicted of felonious sexual assault and endangering the welfare of a child and sent to prison, court records show.

Neither the father nor his wife returned messages left on their home answering machine seeking comment yesterday, and no one answered the door at their home on Saturday.

Milton police and the Norfolk District Attorney's Office continued their investigation of the incidents at Milton Academy. On Saturday, Jan. 22, two hockey players and a 15-year-old male student received oral sex from the sophomore girl in a boy's dormitory room, a school investigation concluded. The next day, the same group engaged in the same acts in a boys' locker room, and on Jan. 24, the hockey players, joined by three teammates, requested and received oral sex from the same girl in the locker room, the school investigation found.

And in a downtown Boston hotel room on Feb 12, Milton Academy students, including the sophomore girl and two of the hockey players, attended a parent-hosted birthday party where sex acts occurred, according to a school official who spoke on condition of anonymity and someone who spoke with students in attendance.

Under state law, it is illegal to have sex with someone under 16. The five hockey players, who were expelled from the school, are between 16 and 18 years old.

The 15-year-old sophomore girl and the 15-year-old male student were put on leave, pending discussions between their families and school administrators about whether or when they should return to school.

Police said yesterday that investigators were still arranging interviews with some of the students involved. Four of the hockey players are from out of state, one from Florida. Milton Police Chief Kevin J. Mearn said that the investigation should be completed within two weeks.

At Milton Academy, which sent a letter to parents last week detailing the oral-sex sessions on school property and recommending that parents read up on the ''cultural prevalence of hooking up," officials said yesterday that they have received an outpouring of support for the school and its actions.

''We appreciate that people understand the principle behind our decision and that they have expressed their support for the school," school spokeswoman Cathleen Everett said. ''These incidents caused a great deal of pain in this community, and we're eager to get back to full focus on the life of the school."

Milton Academy, founded in 1798, has 981 students, kindergarten through 12th grade, including both day and boarding students. Those who live at the school, in grades 9 through 12, represent 34 states and 16 countries and live in eight, single-sex ''houses" on the 125-acre campus 8 miles south of Boston. Annual tuition and room and board at the school costs $32,725.

Donovan Slack can be reached at dslack@globe.com.