A Trail of Tears: The Crimes of Richard Langone

Beginning in the 1990's, allegations of sexual abuse by West Street school principal Richard Langone began to emerge. There had been rumors, I learned afterwards, but far beneath the radar of the authorities.

When all was said and done, five victims had come forward. Many others, however, remain in the shadows, some with substance abuse problems, others with their own sexual offenses.

A typical pedophile, Langone preyed on the most vulnerable children he could find and threatened them to keep quiet. With access to students' files, he was able to search out troubled and vulnerable boys, many who were missing strong father figures in their lives. Many mothers were happy to have such a father figure in their sons lives, and at least in the 1960's and 1970's, such people were considered trustworthy.

Like many pedophiles, he grew less interested in his victims as they grew older. When this happened, he used to introduce them to next victim.

A Victim Speaks Out

In 1994, Robert C. Ward [not the attorney], a former Granby student and victim of Langone, went public with allegations of abuse by filing a complaint Langone with Granby school authorities. Within two months, three other students accused the 57-year-old Langone of sexual abuse. The School Committee, after deliberating on the complaints over a two-week period, voted that the charges were "substantiated." School officials said that Langone denied all allegations. These allegations spanned the time from 1962 to 1974.

Ward later filed suit against Langone and Langone's wife, claiming she should have known about her husband's sexual abuse and should have taken steps to prevent it. It was eventually settled out of court.

In a letter of apology Langone wrote to Ward in 1993, he said, ''I certainly considered you a good friend and know we had many good experiences together but regret the things I should have never done and am truly sorry. Please believe me it was all my fault and never yours.''

Criminal Charges

Langone was eventually indicted in Hampshire Superior Court on charges of raping a kindergartner during the1983-84 school year. Langone was principal of West Street Elementary School. The charge was continued without a guilty finding for three years, during which time he will be on pretrial probation. He was also ordered to complete a sex-offender treatment program on a child rape charge.

According to the victim's relatives, he decided not to go to trial for personal reasons. The result may have been what resulted in the lack of a trial and possible jail sentence.

Statutes of Limitations

The crimes perpetrated on the first four victims to come forward went unprosecuted because of the statute of limitations on the crimes themselves. The last case didn't go to trial when the victim chose not to pursue it.

Recent legislation has changed the law so the statute of limitations is now 27 years after the occurence of a crime, allowing a kindergartner to reach the age of 32 before the limitations kick in.

The extended statute of limitations is not merely a matter of being tough on crime. According to the MASSACHUSETTS CITIZENS FOR CHILDREN, "During the 1990’s, lawmakers throughout the country eliminated or extended statutes of limitations after hearing testimony from psychological experts who explained that time constraints on prosecutions militate against justice because the vast majority of childhood victims cannot speak out until well into adulthood." In recently extending the statute of limitations to 27 years (this is a big part of Kerry Healey's campaign), Massachusetts is following a nation-wide trend. As a result of the previous law, the MCC site says, abusers of children are walking around in our communities unprosecuted and undocumented as sex offenders.

Mark