A Long Island principal bombarded a female student with sexts before grabbing and kissing her in his office last month, according to a $10 million legal filing.
Then-Riverhead HS Principal Charles Regan, a married father targeted Anastasia Stapon, 18, after she sank into a depression this school year and used marijuana and booze to cope, her lawyer, John Ray, said Monday.
“Her principal, who had been her mentor, her hero, is in fact just a pervert who used his power over her to ensnare her in his dirty sexual traps,” Ray said at a press conference in Miller Place, LI.
Starting in January, Regan barraged Stapon — who was adopted by American parents after leaving her native Russia at age 5 — with texts describing his lurid desires in detail, according to the document that alleges sex harassment and abuse of power.
The principal encouraged her to masturbate for him and also sent her a selfie showing him in nothing more than a towel, says the notice of claim — a precursor to a lawsuit, filed against Regan, the school district and several district officials.
Stapon said at a press conference, “I thought he was trying to support me and get me to that better place because that’s what he told me for a very long time.”
Riverhead High SchoolRiverhead High School“And then during my spring break, it got definitely a lot more hot and heavier,” she said.
Regan’s frenzied pursuit, which involved thousands of texts, culminated when Stapon found herself in his office during school hours last month, she said.
“When I got up to leave, we hugged, and then he brought me in for a kiss, and he held the back of my neck and brought me closer,” Stapon recalled.
“When everything was over, I got out of there as fast as I could.”
Stapon said she quickly told a friend, who relayed the incident to a shocked staffer.
Regan, who became principal at the East End school in 2013 and made nearly $190,000 annually, has been reassigned pending a probe.
Riverhead Police Chief David Hegermiller said Monday that his department is investigating the matter, but declined to comment further.
The school district posted a statement on its website last week saying it is “legally prohibited from sharing further details” about the matter, and declined to comment further
