MACOMB COUNTY, Mich. - A lawsuit alleges that several employees of a Macomb County school district were aware of inappropriate behavior between a former high school employee and a minor student for months before he was arrested, but never took appropriate action.
The suit, filed on July 2 by the Mike Morse Law Firm, was filed against Fraser Public Schools on behalf of the minor girl through her mother.
The former employee, Robert William Lindsay II, 27, was an EduStaff worker who was contracted to work as an auditorium manager at Fraser High School. He was resentenced in February after pleading no contest to sexually assaulting a student.
EduStaff was also named in the suit, along with Ryan Sines, the principal of Fraser High School; Lindsay Samassa, the assistant principal of Fraser High School; Kerry Terman, the assistant superintendent for Human Resources and Title IX Coordinator for Fraser Public Schools; Stacy Kalpin, counselor for Fraser High School; and Nicholas Charland, the choir director and music teacher at Fraser High School.
The lawsuit alleges Title IX and Elliot-Larsen Civil Rights Act violations and claims the school district and EduStaff failed to properly train and supervise the employee and that the teen's First Amendment rights were violated.
According to the lawsuit, Lindsay began working at Fraser High School in 2022 and met the minor girl in December of that year when he was 25 and she was 14.
In January of 2023, Lindsay allegedly started developing an inappropriate relationship with the teen.
On Jan. 24, 2023, Sines and Charland had a meeting with Lindsay over concerns about "appropriate boundaries with students after performing arts staff had observed behaviors between Lindsay and the teen that 'made them uncomfortable.'"
The lawsuit alleges that the principal and choir director failed to do the following after this meeting:
- Document the meeting properly
- Report the concerning behavior to the Plaintiff's parents
- Take any meaningful steps to monitor Lindsay's interactions with Plaintiff;
- Implement any protection plan for the Plaintiff
- Report the concerning behavior to the proper authorities as required by law
- Remove Lindsay from his position.
Over the next two months, other staff members allegedly confronted Lindsay about his relationship with the minor and other students, but they never escalated their concerns or contacted the student's parents.
Then, by around Sept. 5, 2023, Samassa, the assistant principal, allegedly saw Lindsay and the minor "standing/sitting too close together, appearing to flirt, and stated she had suspicions that something was going on between them," according to the lawsuit.
This situation also wasn't appropriately reported, and the girl's parents weren't notified.
After that, the school counselor reported that she saw the two "sitting with their legs touching and behaving flirtatiously" during a school event and expressed concerns about them being alone together in the auditorium often.
When the counselor reported this, Terman, the assistant superintendent for Human Resources and Title IX coordinator, met with Lindsay, who said "nothing was going on," according to the lawsuit.
The lawsuit claims that up to this point, the minor's parents still hadn't been notified about these concerns.
Then, just eight days after this meeting, Lindsay resigned from his role at the high school on Sept. 29, 2023, according to the lawsuit.
On Oct. 13, 2023, Terman and Sines conducted an exit interview with Lindsay, during which they "discussed how the auditorium could be managed better and why he could no longer do the work for what he was making," but not the reported inappropriate behavior, according to the suit.
Days after that exit interview, Charland, the choir director, told Sines that a vocal coach had notified him about Lindsay's sexual relationship with the minor.
The lawsuit alleges that "throughout the period from January 2023 to October 2023, while the school officials were observing and documenting concerning behavior, Lindsay engaged in repeated acts of sexual abuse against Plaintiff, including sexual intercourse and other sexual acts, both at the school and at his home."
That's when the school officials contacted the authorities, according to the lawsuit.
Lindsay was arrested and charged with five counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct and two counts of second-degree criminal sexual conduct.
In court, prosecutors expressed concerns that Lindsay would continue to pursue the girl. They also said the victim was in love with Lindsay, who had allegedly proposed marriage to the teen.
Lindsay was initially sentenced to 8-50 years for first-degree criminal sexual conduct and 8-15 years for second-degree criminal sexual conduct in January 2025.
According to authorities, Lindsay filed a motion to dispute the sentencing and had asked to be resentenced. In February 2025, he was resentenced to 6 to 50 years in the Michigan Department of Corrections.
The Macomb County prosecutor had said he disagreed with this move.
"The Macomb County Prosecutor's Office opposed the resentencing in this case," Macomb County Prosecutor Peter J. Lucido said in a news release on Feb. 20, 2025. "However, we respect the Judge's decision and remain committed to seeking justice for our community."
After Lindsay was arrested, the suit claims that the assistant principal told the teen that she "could not talk about what happened to her."
The teen eventually left Fraser Public Schools and continued her schooling online.
"The sexual abuse by Lindsay has caused severe emotional, psychological, and educational harm to Plaintiff, including but not limited to disruption of her education; emotional distress; psychological trauma; damage to her parent-child relationship; loss of educational and school-based social opportunities; and other damages to be proven at trial," according to the suit.
The suit accuses Fraser Public Schools of violating Title IX and failing to sufficiently train and supervise its employees.
It also claims the inaction of Sines, Samassa, Terman, Kalpin and Charland was "so egregious as to shock the conscience and constituted deliberate indifference to Plaintiff's constitutional rights."
The suit alleges that the actions of these employees were grossly negligent due to a lack of concern that Lindsay's inappropriate actions would result in injury to the teen.
The vice principal is also accused of violating the teen's First Amendment rights by telling her she couldn't discuss what had happened.
The suit also claims EduStaff was negligent in its hiring and supervising practices.
It said EduStaff's "negligence in hiring, supervising, training, and retaining Lindsay was a direct and proximate cause of the sexual abuse suffered by Plaintiff and the resulting damages."
Both EduStaff and Fraser Public Schools are accused of violating the Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act for failing to take appropriate action after they learned about Lindsay's inappropriate behavior toward the teen.
Fraser Public Schools released the following statement to Local 4 when asked about the lawsuit:
"Fraser Public Schools just learned of a lawsuit filed against the district regarding the behaviors of a former EduStaff employee that left the district two years ago. The district does not comment on pending litigation; but will respond to the filing through legal counsel at the appropriate time. All questions should be directed at legal counsel.
If families have questions or concerns, please feel free to contact the Fraser Public Schools central office at 586-439-7000. Fraser Public Schools works closely with the Fraser Department of Public Safety (FDPS). The district is thankful for the ongoing strong partnership and shared goals to put safety first.
Fraser Public Schools is committed to preparing students to excel in a complex, interconnected, changing world. The district expects all staff to adhere to the highest ethical practices and conduct as they live out this commitment."