RCS student testifies against former teacher

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A former Riverdale Country School (RCS) student returned to court in Manhattan on Feb. 19 to testify at the trial of Richard Hovan, a former RCS teacher with whom she had an alleged relationship, according to news reports. 

The 33-year-old was arrested in April 2012 on charges that he had carried out a sexual relationship with the girl, who was 16 at the time. 

The Press previously reported that RCS Head of School Dominic Randolph sent an e-mail to parents that April stating the administration launched an investigation into the allegations in May 2011. 

“After conducting a preliminary investigation, we had the teacher escorted from the campus immediately, suspended him and instructed him to have no further contact with anyone from the Riverdale community,” he wrote at the time. 

The school fired Mr. Hovan in June 2011 based on evidence compiled by the Manhattan District Attorney’s office, including e-mails, texts and phone calls. 

In 2012, Mr. Hovan’s attorney Vinoo Varghese filed documents in Manhattan Supreme Court stating that the student had denied the accusations when prosecutors approached her. Prosecutors, Mr. Varghese wrote, “threatened the complainant with a subpoena so that she would testify.” 

Mr. Hovan taught geometry, calculus and physics at RCS beginning in 2010. 

In court on Feb. 19, the young woman testified that Mr. Hovan began pursuing her after she turned 16, in April 2011, when she was a sophomore, The Daily News reported.

The teacher, who was engaged at the time, invited her over to “make pizza and watch TV,” she testified. Instead, they began a relationship of a sexual nature, which continued for a month until Mr. Hovan’s fiancé discovered the relationship. 

The Daily News also reported the former student admitted to lying during her first grand jury testimony, to keep Mr. Hovan from going to jail. 

But she changed her mind in fall 2011 when, during a meeting with Mr. Hovan, he “appeared more worried about his legal situation than about his teenaged lover,” The Daily News wrote.

Riverdale Country School, Richard Hovan, Dominic Randolph, statutory rape, Maya Rajamani