Private Christian school in Orlando hid knowledge of child sex abuse by teacher, lawsuit alleges

ORLANDO, Fla. - A new lawsuit accuses a private Christian school in Orlando of hiding information about one of its teachers sexually abusing a student. 

The lawsuit is against First Academy, a private Christian college preparatory school of about 1,300 kids run by First Baptist Church of Orlando. To protect the victim’s identity, she’s referred to in the lawsuit as "Jane Doe."

The alleged crimes all happened between 2014 and 2016. Attorneys for "Jane Doe" said she had been using that time to process her trauma in therapy before she finally came forward to the police.

Harriet Sugg, 54, is charged with five different felonies for sexual activity with a minor – three of those charges emphasize that she committed the crime while acting as an authority figure at a school. There were already criminal charges against the teacher when that lawsuit was filed against the school. Now, even more charges have been filed.

Sugg was 47 at the time of the alleged abuse and the student was 15. According to the lawsuit, Sugg spoke to the students at Chapel about being a victim of child sex abuse herself, and that the victim had already gone through certain traumas that left her vulnerable to abuse.

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"A teacher was actually engaging in sexual intercourse and sexual activity with a child right under their noses at the school," said Andrea Lewis, one of the attorneys for the student. "She was grooming this younger girl and eventually did engage in extremely egregious and inappropriate acts of child sexual abuse."

The lawsuit asserts the school was warned something was going on by teachers, by students, and by Sugg’s own husband. It includes a letter the school’s principal sent Suggs, saying students had spotted Suggs and the victim holding hands, rubbing each other’s backs, and playing with each other’s hair. However, after months of meetings about this, the only repercussion was a repeated threat of termination. 

"Her school either had their head in the sand or just failed to handle any of those red flags appropriately," said Lewis.

According to the lawsuit, The First Academy willfully ignored and even concealed accusations of child abuse. Now, the victim is seeking damages, saying the school failed to take appropriate action to protect her. It calls the school’s choice to not report the allegations to the police "extreme and outrageous, going beyond all bounds of decency."

"It was completely preventable at this whole thing was avoidable," said Lewis. "And it's had lifelong effects on her."

First Academy’s head of school, Dr. Steve Whitaker, and First Baptist Orlando Senior Pastor Dr. David Uth issued a joint statement.

In it, they said, "We understand that trust in our institution has been shaken by these allegations, and we want to acknowledge the pain and concern this has caused in our community."

They also said, "We take these allegations with the utmost seriousness and want to assure our community that we are committed to the safety, well-being, and spiritual development of our students."

The attorneys for "Jane Doe" are seeking damages, though they don’t have a set monetary figure in mind.

"Our number one goal is to get her the justice that she deserves, hold the responsible parties accountable," said Lewis. But also, we are also very, very hopeful, but going to be very persistent that we see some change within the administration."

Sugg pleaded not guilty. She has a hearing coming up on November 16.