TOLEDO, Ohio — Ottawa Hills Local Schools officials responded Tuesday to a federal lawsuit filed by the sexual abuse victims of one of its former employees, Ronald "Donnie" Stevens.
In its response to the $100 million lawsuit, the district, school board and 17 employees denied knowledge of sexual abuse of students by now-convicted offender Ronald "Donnie" Stevens, as claims that the abuse happened on school property.
Stevens was an operations manager for the school district when he was accused of sexually abusing teenage boys. In 2021 he was sentenced to life in prison after being convicted of more than 30 charges, including multiple counts of rape.
In late 2021, three victims and their parents sued Ottawa Hills Local Schools over the district's handling of the case. The lawsuit aimed to hold the district accountable for its "policies, procedures, actions and inactions" that victims say enabled the abuse.
In August of this year an amended case asked for $100 million and named an additional 17 defendants, including the then-superintendent, Kevin Miller, current superintendent, Adam Fineske, other administrators and teachers.
In a 53-page response filed Tuesday, the defendants wrote that the claims dispute sworn testimony given at Stevens' trial.
The defendants also deny giving Stevens access to victims or authorizing him to tutor any students in his role as a custodian for the school district.
The response said a victim's mother relinquished custody of her son to Stevens, including decision-making authority, without investigating him and therefore some or all of the damages claimed by her son were caused by her.
A pretrial conference is set for Wednesday.
The full court document is below and available at this link.
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