Victim of sex abuse by principal sues Tampa Day School
TAMPA — The former principal of Tampa Day School is behind bars until 2024 for molesting young boys and now the school is facing a lawsuit for not stopping the abuse.
James Larkin, 65, was sentenced last year to 10 years in prison following his 2014 arrest after a 14-year-old boy who attended the school told authorities Larkin molested him while baby-sitting him when his mother was out of town. The school specializes in students in kindergarten through eighth grade who have mild to moderate learning disabilities.
After the arrest, a man came forward and said Larkin molested him in 1980 when he was 10 and attended a sleepover at Larkin’s home.
The younger boy and his mother are now suing the school and Larkin, described in the complaint as the boy’s “trusted principal.”
The suit, filed Tuesday in Hillsborough Circuit Court, says Larkin previously sexually abused other young boys, including boys he met through his previous job at St. John Orthodox Greek Day School. It says he had a particular interest in vulnerable boys with an absent or deceased parent.
The lawsuit says the boy’s father died when the child was 10, and his mother enrolled him in seventh grade at Tampa Day School in 2012 when he had academic and social difficulties in public school. The child, identified only by the initials R.R., was also diagnosed as having attention deficit disorder, the lawsuit states.
The suit says Larkin took a special interest in the boy and assumed the role of his “mentor, advisor, counselor and surrogate father,” a role the lawsuit says was known by the school administration and teachers.
Larkin, the suit says, “exploited the fact that R.R. did not have a father to fill a void in R.R.’s life and undertake a paternal role.” He also took advantage of the boy’s mother being a single mother.
This, the lawsuit says, is a standard tactic of child molesters, known as “grooming.”
The lawsuit says Larkin would show obvious favoritism toward the boy, meeting with him alone behind closed doors at the school, buying him lunch and dining alone with him and roughhousing with him in the hallways. The principal also texted with the boy throughout the day and kept a collage of pictures, correspondence and other memorabilia from the boy prominently on his desk.
The lawsuit, filed by Fort Lauderdale lawyer Adam Horowitz, says all these were red flags the school administration failed to address as sexual predatory behavior.
A woman who answered the phone at the school Thursday afternoon said, “We’re not making any comments at this time. Thank you,” and then hung up without identifying herself.
Horrowitz said Thursday that R.R.’s mother did not want to talk to a reporter.
esilvestrini@tampatrib.com
813-259-7837
Twitter: @ElaineTBO