Family Says Carmel Catholic School Ignored Sexual Harassment, Bullying

HAMILTON COUNTY, Ind. — A Hamilton County family alleges that a local Catholic grade school failed to protect their young son from repeated bullying, assault, sexual harassment and graphic threats.

A lawsuit was filed on Monday in Hamilton County Superior Court against both the Catholic Diocese of Lafayette and several school administrators. The suit claims that a seventh grader at Our Lady of Mount Carmel suffered the abuse at the hands of his fellow students.

Attorneys representing the child’s family describe how the harassment began in 2024 when students began calling the boy “weak,” “ugly” and “gay.” Students allegedly made fun of the boy for being a vegetarian and put meat in his food so he could not eat it.

The boy’s parents claim that the school was notified of the bullying and failed to address it, which resulted in escalation. During the 2025-2026 school year, the lawsuit describes how the harassment “intensified and became sexual in nature.”

The student would allegedly call the boy homophobic slurs, make fun of his body and describe graphic sexual acts they would perform on him. Attorneys say a group of boys would repeatedly threaten to pull the victim’s pants down in an attempt to humiliate and intimidate him.

During an incident last winter, the lawsuit alleges that the boy was attacked in a school bathroom after class had ended for the day. The victim was reportedly pinned down to the ground while students tried to pull down his pants, without any school staff intervening.

The alleged bullies also reportedly made graphic sexual comments about the victim’s young sister, including “threats to rape her and commit other sexual acts against her.” One student reportedly told the victim, “he would not have to wait until his sister was 18,” causing the boy to fear for the girl’s safety as well as his own.

Other alleged incidents throughout Winter 2025 include the boy being kicked in the knees at recess and his underwear being pulled down in front of his entire gym class. Despite alerting school officials of the incidents, the victim’s parents allege there was “no apparent discipline.”

The day after the boy’s parents took their concerns to school leaders, the alleged bullies reportedly threw snowballs at the child in retaliation. They also allegedly called him a “snitch” as well as homophobic slurs.

The lawsuit claims that Our Lady of Mount Carmel officials failed to protect the boy from his bullies and also failed to contact the Indiana Department of Child Services about the allegations. At one point, school leaders allegedly offered several explanations for the reported abuse, including:

“Boys will be boys”
The students were “joking around”
The physical abuse was “merely horseplay”
The incidents “were not sexual in nature”
The parents’ complaints were minimal
Despite promises that the victim’s teachers would be told to separate him from the offending classmates, attorneys now allege that no such communication was made. The victim allegedly had to continue his schooling alongside his bullies and was even forced to work on a group project with one of the harassers.

The boy reportedly began seeking therapy treatment for this abuse. Court documents claim he was later diagnosed with both anxiety and a severe form of post-traumatic stress disorder. After the boy switched to remote learning, his parents say he was withdrawn from the school without notice. They reportedly only learned of this when his online learning account was deactivated.

The lawsuit alleges that the Diocese has since allowed the alleged harassers to attend Guerin Catholic High School, forcing their son to attend a different school at a “substantially greater cost” than expected.

In the complaint, attorneys allege that the Diocese and OLMC leaders failed to act and allowed the bullying to continue. They are now accused of negligence, negligent hiring and training and negligent infliction of emotional distress.

The conclusion of the filing states that the parents are now asking for the court to enter a judgment in their favor and award compensatory and punitive damages, as well as the cost of court fees. Attorney Tammy Meyer of Metzger Rosta LLP is a lawyer on the case.

“A school that promises parents a safe, faith-based environment has a duty to deliver one,” said
Meyer in a news release. “This family did everything right. They reported the abuse again and again, and they were met with excuses instead of action. When the adults entrusted with a child’s safety look away from sexual harassment and assault, they leave that child to absorb harm no student should ever have to endure.”

FOX59/CBS4 has reached out to the Diocese of Lafayette in Indiana and Bishop Timothy L. Doherty for comment on the lawsuit. We have yet to hear back as of this article’s publication.

This is not the first time that Our Lady of Mount Carmel and the Diocese have dealt with allegations involving student safety.

One lawsuit filed in 2018 claimed that the Diocese of Lafayette allowed one of its priests to sexually abuse multiple children at Our Lady of Mount Carmel. Then, in 2022, the Diocese suspended an OLMC priest after accusations of inappropriate conduct with a minor.

Family Says Carmel Catholic School Ignored Sexual Harassment, Bullying was originally published on wibc.com