MARTINEZ — The former climate and culture supervisor at the Contra Costa School of the Performing Arts has pleaded no contest to statutory rape of a former student as part of a plea deal that requires prosecutors to drop more serious charges.
Gerard Flaherty, 43, pleaded no contest to felony unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor and will be required to serve a three-year jail term that can be reduced by half with good behavior, court records show. As part of the deal, Contra Costa prosecutors dropped forcible rape and other sex abuse counts.
Flaherty was arrested in early May after his victim, a then-17-year-old girl who attended the Walnut Creek-based school, accused him of sexually assaulting her in his office. Authorities say that in a secretly recorded call after the alleged sexual assault, the girl told Flaherty she was pregnant and he begged her to get an abortion, offering to pay for it and take her to the appointment because, “it would ruin so many lives” and “I would go to jail.” Police say they found alcohol inside Flaherty’s campus office, where he had access to security cameras around the school.
Flaherty was released from jail about two week after he was charged and remains free. Though he was formally sentenced on Oct. 9, he is not yet required to report to jail. A court date has been set for January to make sure that Flaherty surrenders by then, records show.
With the criminal case all but completed, Flaherty still has to deal with a pending civil suit, filed in September against him and the school by the girl he sexually abused, court records show. The suit alleges that school officials brushed off reports that he had been “giving special attention to minor female students, escorting minor female students to their cars during instructional hours, and entering rooms unannounced when female students were changing clothes.” The suit alleges teachers and administrators failed in their duty as mandatory reporters to call attention to suspicious behavior and follow up on concerns from parents.
The suit is still in its early stages. The school has not formally responded with its own court filings, and a case management conference has been set for January, records show.
Flaherty has also been named as a defendant in an unrelated suit against the school, filed earlier this year, by a Black man who claims he lost his job as a custodian at the school due to racial discrimination.
The same month Flaherty was charged, officials announced they were closing the school’s Walnut Creek campus due to lack of enrollment. After media outlets publicized Flaherty’s arrest, police say they received numerous tips from parents, including some that questioned how the school handled complaints about his behavior.