Failures at a private school in Wichita paved the way for teen sexual abuse, the lawsuits allege

A woman who was sexually assaulted as a teenager by a Trinity Academy teacher has sued the private Christian K-12 school and a current and former official for negligence. They allege that their failure to hire, retain and supervise the teacher caused or contributed to her abuse.

The woman says in court documents that she suffered $250 million in damages, including medical bills and mental anguish, after Matthew McFarren “used his position of trust and authority as a high school teacher… to isolate, groom and sexually abuse ” her when she was a 16-year-old student in 2020 and 2021.

The school owed students “a duty of reasonable care” in vetting and supervising employees, but failed to ensure it was safe from McFarren’s “inappropriate contact,” says the lawsuit filed last month in Sedgwick County District Court.

The failures directly caused or contributed to her suffering harm as a result of the sexual abuse, the suit alleges. The school denied the allegations in lawsuits.

The lawsuit also alleges that before hiring him, Trinity Academy and its officials “knew, or had reason to know, that McFarren had engaged in misconduct consistent with a dangerous propensity for unwanted or abusive contact with minor children and students.’ An attorney representing the woman, Reed Martens of the law firm Monsees & Mayer in Kansas City, Missouri, declined to say what those alleged actions might be.

McFarren was 41 years old and working as a religion teacher and assistant football coach at Trinity Academy, 12345 E. 21st St. in Wichita, when he became involved with the girl. He was prosecuted and sentenced to more than two years in prison above the interactions. He had no convictions before that.

Defendants named in the lawsuit include the school, founder and former board chairman Pete Ochs, and former high school principal Jamie Hutchinson, whose last name is now Alford. An attorney representing them did not return messages seeking comment but denied the allegations and asked for the case to be dismissed in a response to the lawsuit on Nov. 1, saying any sexual assault McFarren committed occurred “outside the barrel and scope of his work.”

The school fired McFarren for an unspecified “violation of employee expectations and school policies” before his 2021 arrest.

The woman is seeking damages of more than $75,000 and a jury trial. She filed the case anonymously due to privacy concerns and fears that making her name public would cause additional emotional and psychological harm. She is an adult and now lives in Riley County, but her family still lives in the Wichita area, the lawsuit said.

The Eagle does not name victims of sexual assault in stories without their consent.

Court records related to his criminal case show that McFarren’s involvement with the girl began after she took one of his religion classes in 2020. He kept in touch with her, met her in public places, bought her an infinity ringengaged in sexual acts with her and talked about getting married and showering together, his arrest affidavit says.

He even told her he was keeping his job at the school to be near her, the affidavit said.

The months-long pursuit ended in early 2021 when others discovered and reported the illegal relationship.

McFarren pleaded guilty to one count of unlawful sexual relations and was sentenced to 34 months in prison in 2022. He was released from prison in September and lives in Derby, state department of corrections And registration details of perpetrators show.

In Kansas, it is against the law for a K-12 teacher to have sex with a student enrolled in their school, even if the student would otherwise be old enough to legally consent.

The woman’s lawsuit says she was “in an extremely vulnerable condition” when the school placed McFarren in a position of trust and authority over her and then “failed to properly supervise him.”

“The injuries suffered by Plaintiff as a result… are of the kind that the statute was intended to prevent.”

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