DENVER — Denver Public Schools acknowledged Friday night that its board and the Denver Police Department are aware of new sexual assault allegations against school board member Tay Anderson after a woman testified this week before a legislative committee about a sexual predator within the school system who has targeted students.
On Tuesday, Mary-Katherine Brooks Fleming, a parent of three DPS students, told the state House Judiciary Committee there is “a sexual predator targeting DPS children” during her public testimony in support of a bill that would make it easier for victims to sue institutions who employ child sexual abusers.
Anderson, who has been under investigation by the school district for a single sexual assault allegation since early April, referred questions to his attorney, Christopher Decker. Decker denied the allegations on behalf of his client.
In a statement to The Denver Post, Decker wrote, “Nothing is worse or more unacceptable than the harm caused by sexual assault upon our children, or the related harm caused by not believing those who have been victimized in this way. This is also why false assertions of these horrible crimes act to cheapen and diminish its importance. It is because of these two truths that responsible people and organizations must carefully investigate such inflammatory claims completely, and with an open and fair process.”
Brooks Fleming told the committee 62 people had come to her for help regarding a single individual, but she did not name that person. Their experiences ranged from unwanted touching to “violent acts of rape,” she said. Sixty-one of them lacked documentation or were recipients of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, and the youngest was 14, she said.
