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Former prep school teacher going back to prison for incident as camp counselor
A former prep school teacher who served 11 months for sexually abusing two students in Pennsylvania is going back to prison for an earlier incident when he was a camp counselor in New Hampshire.
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Former prep school teacher going back to prison for incident as camp counselor
December 2, 2023 / 9:10 PM EST / AP
OSSIPPEE, N.H. (AP) -- A former prep school teacher who served 11 months for sexually abusing two students in Pennsylvania is going back to prison for an earlier incident when he was a camp counselor in New Hampshire.
Matthew Scavitto, 39, of West Chester, Pennsylvania, was sentenced Friday to 2 1/2 to five years in state prison for incidents involving a boy from 2002 to 2003 at Camp Tecumseh in Moultonborough, New Hampshire, according to Eric MacLeish, a lawyer for the victim in the case.
The victim, Will Addis, of Camden, Maine, said future abuse at an all-boys boarding school in Pennsylvania could've stopped if camp officials had alerted New Hampshire Child Protection. In 2015, Scavitto pleaded guilty to sexual misconduct with students at The Phelps School in Malvern, Pennsylvania.
"Had the camp reported the abuse, Scavitto would have been prosecuted 20 years ago and he would never have been able to gain access to other victims at the camp and the Phelps School," Addis said in a statement.
The Associated Press does not typically name people who say they have been victims of sexual assault, unless they go public, as Addis has. He said he was assaulted from about age 10 to 12 at the camp.
Addis' attorney said a camp counselor walked in on Scavitto and Addis in bed and reported the incident to a superior but the abuse continued because nothing further was done to stop it.
Scavitto, who was taken immediately into custody on Friday, took full responsibility for his actions and hopes the victim can begin healing, his lawyer, Jesse Friedman, said Saturday.
"Matt Scavitto was a child himself during the timeline of the offenses in this case. There are no winners in these types of cases and the impact on so many lives is profound — the victim, the accused and the families of all involved," the attorney wrote in an email.