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Manatee school official resigns

A group revealed last week that the assistant principal was accused of molesting a boy while a seminarian in the 1960s.

BRADENTON - A middle school assistant principal resigned in the wake of a report that he was accused of molesting a boy nearly 40 years ago.

Haile Middle School assistant principal Joseph Gilpin resigned Friday, two days after a group disclosed he was named in a lawsuit that accused him of molesting a boy while a Catholic seminarian in Massachusetts.

The alleged victim sued the church in 2001 over abuse he said occurred between 1965 and 1968 when he was between 9 and 12 years old, the group, Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, notified Manatee school superintendent Roger Dearing. The lawsuit was settled out of court.

"After some thought and prayer, I think it best that I terminate my employment with the Manatee County school district," Gilpin wrote in a letter to Dearing, who had put him on leave pending an investigation.

Dearing accepted the resignation, but indicated the district still plans to learn more about the 60-year-old Gilpin's past.

The Bradenton Herald reported Saturday that it found three reports of inappropriate contact with students during Gilpin's 30-year career here.

In 1996, Gilpin confronted three girls he suspected of smoking, and two later said he reached into their pockets looking for lighters.

In 2000, a female student complained Gilpin "hit her on the side of the buttock with a book," which Gilpin later defended as a "friendly gesture."

Gilpin was told by superiors that any physical contact between an administrator and a student was improper.

In November, three students complained after one of the boys approached Gilpin and put his arm around him and Gilpin "patted him on his bottom." Authorities did not find a criminal violation in the incident.

[Last modified February 1, 2005, 00:54:18]