Pacific edition, Wednesday, July 25, 2007
CAMP FOSTER, Okinawa — A Kentucky jury ruled Friday in favor of a woman who claimed she was sexually abused by teachers and administrators at her high school more than 30 years ago, awarding her $3.7 million.
Among the teachers mentioned in the civil suit was Jack Russell Hubbard, 60, a science teacher at Kubasaki High School on Okinawa. Hubbard was to retire next month after 20 years in the Department of Defense Dependents Schools system, according to DODDS officials.
Hubbard was arrested July 9 in Johnstown, Pa., on charges of sodomy and rape stemming from the allegations of Carol Lynne Maner, now 44, who sued the Fayette County, Ky., school board for failing to act on reports of sexual abuse when she was a student there in the late 1970s and early ’80s.
She claimed the board’s failure to intercede allowed Hubbard and other teachers to continue their abuse, causing her emotional trauma that led to drug addiction and other problems associated with post-traumatic stress disorder, according to media accounts of the trial.
After two weeks of testimony, which included former students who said they also were abused, the jury awarded Maner $3.5 million for emotional suffering and $200,000 for lost wages, according to the Lexington (Ky.) Herald-Leader.
Hubbard, a former science teacher at Beaumont High School in Fayette County, was not named as a defendant in the civil suit. He was arrested the second day of the trial and faces criminal charges in Lexington that involve allegations he sodomized a 14-year-old boy and raped Maner when she was 15, according to media accounts.
He is awaiting extradition to Kentucky.
The jury was not aware of the arrest of Hubbard and a former female teacher on criminal charges stemming from allegations made in the civil suit, according to the Herald-Leader.
DODDS-Pacific officials had no comment Monday on the verdict.
“Because it’s under investigation, we really can’t comment,” said DODDS-Pacific spokesman Chip Steitz.
He said DODDS was aware of the criminal charges against Hubbard and that there was no record of any allegations from students or teachers during his 20 years with DODDS on Okinawa and in Europe.
