Updated: Westerly schools' employee arrested on sexual assault charges

Elizabeth Regan, The Day, New London, Conn.
·1 min read

May 9—WESTERLY — A former employee of the school system was arraigned Tuesday on three counts of third-degree sexual assault of a student following the passage of a new state law.

Police said Sean P. Tormey, 39, of 40 Wicklow Road, Westerly, was charged Tuesday.

Tormey is accused of engaging in sexual contact with a student between Jan. 1 and March 11. Westerly police Chief Paul J. Gingerella said Tormey was an in-school suspension and detention supervisor at Westerly High School, where the incidents are alleged to have occurred.

The Rhode Island Office of the Attorney General in a news release said Tormey was indicted by a grand jury on Monday and arraigned in Washington County Superior Court on Tuesday.

The definition of third-degree sexual assault was expanded last year to include "sexual contact" between an adult in a position of authority and someone between the ages of 14 and 18. The law previously was specific to "sexual penetration."

The law applies to those who have supervisory or disciplinary power over the victim, which is how Tormey was described in the indictment.

The Westerly Police Department and Assistant Attorney General Mark J. Trovato of the attorney general's office are leading the investigation and prosecution of the case.