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BROOKLINE, Mass. (WBZ NewsRadio) — A man that worked at Brookline Public Schools for five years has been arrested for allegedly committing numerous sexual assaults on the same student while teaching there.
Officials in the Brookline Police Department issued a statement that said 36-year-old Larry Chen of Newton has been arrested on 18 counts each of Aggravated Statutory Rape, Rape of a Child under 16, and Indecent A & B on a person under 14. According to officials, a report came in alleging that Chen had committed numerous assaults on the same student victim for about two years, starting in 2016 through mid-2018.
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The victim told officials in an interview that her social studies teacher had allegedly begun sexually assaulting her when she was in the sixth grade at the Heath School, lasting until the end of seventh grade. Police say that the victim was 12-years-old when the sexual abuse started, when Chen would have been 31 years old.
The BPD says that Chen was a teacher in a position of power, a mandated reporter, and had an active tutoring business that could have provided him access to other children.
According to BPS, Chen left the District in November of 2018 but worked as a seasonal employee for the town of Brookline's Recreation Department last summer.
“While the judicial process plays out, we are nonetheless deeply concerned by these allegations and are committed to providing our full cooperation with the investigation into these charges," BPS said in a statement issued on Tuesday. BPS officials say they learned of Chen's allegations after police began investigating the report.
Police say that Chen was scheduled to be arraigned Tuesday afternoon.
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