A group of five Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, high school “mean girls” — a popular phrase from the 2004 movie of the same name — have confessed to falsely accusing a boy of sexual assault simply because they “don’t like him,” as Fox News reported. (Shown above left is an image from the film.)
The boy is now being home-schooled and suffers from mental health problems, according to his family.
The boy’s parents, Michael J. and Alicia Flood, have filed a lawsuit seeking unspecified damages claiming the girls, students of Seneca Valley High School, “conspired in person and via electronic communication devices to falsely accuse [their son] of sexual assault on two occasions.”
They’re suing the school district, the girls’ parents, and the Butler County district attorney’s office.
The parents reportedly referred to the females as “mean girls,” using a reference from the 2004 movie about a high school clique, starring Lindsay Lohan.
The false accusations led to the boy’s losing his job at a swimming pool, going through “multiple court appearances,” being detained in a juvenile facility, detention at home, and suffering “the loss of his liberty and other damages,” according to the 26-page lawsuit obtained by Trib Live.
“[The boy] was basically being tortured in school by the other students and investigators, but the administration was only focused on protecting the girls, who were lying,” the family’s attorney, Craig Fishman, told that publication.
“Once the allegations were proven false, they really didn’t care one bit about [the boy] and there has been absolutely no repercussions against the girls,” he added.
“This is every parent’s nightmare — every family’s nightmare,” a Boston mother of four boys told LifeZette. “Are these the unintended consequences of ‘Believe all women’ — that girls will learn that a great way to ruin the life of someone they personally don’t like is to cry rape or assault?”
The first girl accused the boy of assaulting her at the swimming pool in July 2017, reported Fox News.
Another of the girls said she was present during the assault.
But the first girl later admitted making it all up, saying, “I just don’t like him.”
“I just don’t like to hear him talk … I don’t like to look at him,” the girl reportedly said during a recorded interview with school officials that was obtained by Fishman, the boy’s family’s attorney.
Before she admitted her allegation was untrue, the boy was charged with indecent assault and two counts of harassment.
He reportedly pleaded not guilty but was put on probation.
In October 2017, the girl who originally accused him of sexual assault allegedly “told her fellow classmates that she would ‘do anything to get [the boy] expelled,’” said Fox News.
A “bullying campaign” was begun by other students against the accused boy, with someone even reportedly taping the word “PREDATOR,” in all capitals, on the student’s back during a choir practice.
The male student was again accused of sexual assault in March. A friend of the first female accuser told a school official that he sexually assaulted her at her home, and the allegations were backed up by two other girls.
Just a month later, the three girls recanted their allegations — and admitted they lied about the sexual assault.
The boy was then charged with indecent assault, criminal trespass and simple assault in April, noted Fox News, which said the youth was “reportedly arrested at the school” and spent nine days in a detention center after being deemed “a threat to the community.”
Just a month later, the three girls recanted their allegations — and admitted they lied about the sexual assault.
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