“We did a lot of discovery and deposition,” between February 2014 and when the settlement was reached, said the student’s attorney Konrad Kircher.
Rohrer was convicted in 2013 of two counts of felony sexual battery against the then 17-year-old female student. He is serving three years at the Chillicothe Correctional Institution.
Kircher said the settlement with the Springfield-Clark Career Technology Center is for the, “school’s negligence to prevent harm,” against his client.
The career technology center has paid the $225,000, he said.
Court documents indicate the career technology center had previously received complaints in the 2010-11 school year of sexual harassment and sexual touching by Rohrer.
The district released a statement Friday saying the court dismissed all but one of the lawsuit’s claims in September, but its insurers chose to settle with the former student rather than, “proceed to an expensive and time consuming trial on the one remaining claim.”
“Jeffrey Scott Rohrer betrayed a trust and violated his contractual obligation as an educator. We at the CTC are saddened and outraged by his misconduct. There is no higher priority than the safety and well-being of our students, and we feel sympathy and compassion for Ms. Doe,” the statement said. “Following this resolution, the CTC looks forward to focusing its full attention on preparing students to be career and college ready.”
Kircher said the next step is for a court magistrate in Dayton to hold a hearing to determine a monetary figure that Rohrer will be ordered to pay the victim. He said Rohrer testified that after release from prison he plans to work in northeast Ohio.
“We plan to garnish his wages,” Kircher said.
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