WEST CHESTER >> He was meant to be a mentor, not a monster.
But that, said a teenage boy, was essentially what George James Symonds became as he almost daily harassed the young student sexually while serving as Head of School at the Concept School, a private alternative middle and high school outside West Chester for students who have special needs.
Rather than providing academic guidance, Symonds texted, emailed, and called the boy, telling him that he loved him, encouraging him to become sexually aware, and expressing his own thoughts of sexual exploration. In private, he would hug and fondle the boy, and continued to engage in inappropriate sexual discussions with him.
“Don’t fight the love,” Symonds allegedly told the boy, according to the prosecutor who on Wednesday presented a plea agreement involving Symonds to a Common Pleas Court judge.
In a letter that the boy wrote about the trauma that Symonds caused, he described how uncomfortable and anxiety-ridden he became as the communication from Symonds persisted, and how he dreamed of finding a situation where he would no longer have to worry about the unwanted sexual attention his principal subjected him to.
“Imagine trusting your teachers and living in an innocent world of hugs and laughter,:” the boy, who was not identified in court and was not present for the proceeding, wrote. “Imagine that this monster never haunted me.”
The boy’s mother, who also wrote a letter, echoed those sentiments, calling Symonds, “the monster under the bed,” that caused her son no end of distress. He is currently undergoing therapy to reduce the emotional trauma he suffered, she said.
Symonds, 63, of Wilmington, Del., pleaded guilty to a single count of corruption of minors, graded as a first-degree misdemeanor, punishable by a maximum of five years in prison. As part of an agreement negotiated by Deputy District Attorney Deborah Ryan and defense attorney Evan Kelly of West Chester, Symonds was sentenced to three years of court supervised probation.
He was also ordered to have no contact with the boy or his family, to have no contact with other minors, to surrender his teacher’s license, to give up computers that had been seized by police during their investigation, and to undergo sex offenders’ treatment.
Ryan told President Judge Jacqueline Carroll Cody, who accepted the plea and imposed the sentence, that the boy, his family, and the Westtown-East Goshen Police Department, which arrested Symonds in July, were comfortable with the terms of the agreement. She said the District Attorney’s Office had offered the probationary sentence because Symonds had cooperated with investigators and not fought the charges.
Asked Cody whether the wanted to say anything about the case, Symonds expressed some contrition.
“I would like to say I am very sorry for what happened,” he told the judge, standing before the bench in Courtroom One. “It was not my intention for these conversations to reach this level. What I did had an impact on the school, my family, and certainly on the life of the victim. I’ve never been in this situation before, and I don’t intend to be in this situation again.”
But Cody bristled at Symonds seeming ambivalence about his own conduct.
“You did all of this by your own free will,” the judge admonished him. “Let’s not say that it ‘just happened.’ Nothing that happens here today is going to fix what you did.”
According to Ryan and police, in June the boy was examined by Dr. Matthew D. DiGuglielmoon, a gastroenterologist, after complaining of constant stomach pain. The boy then told him of the unwanted contact he had been having with Symonds, and the police were called.
The boy told police that between the time he was in eighth and ninth grades Symonds communicated with the victim almost daily through text messages, emails, and telephone calls. The defendant told the victim that he loved the victim, taught the victim how to masturbate, and informed the victim that the defendant thought of the victim while he masturbated.
Then, police said, Symonds would allegedly arrange to meet the victim in his office and in the bathroom to “hug” on numerous occasions, and would tell the victim “not to fight the love.”
While in the Symonds’ office he allegedly cupped the victim’s buttocks with his hand and instructed the victim to delete all electronic communications between the two and told the victim not to tell anyone about their relationship. The defendant stated that he knew he could go to jail if people found out.
Police recorded a telephone call between the boy and Symonds in which Symonds apologized for his conduct, Ryan told Cody. He was arrested in late June.
Kelly said that his client agreed with the scenario that Ryan described, except for telling the victim that he thought of him when he masturbated. He also said his client had stopped the contact himself, after telling a therapist what had been happening.
“There is no question that he went too far,” Kelly said. “It was inappropriate, and it was a crime.”
Symonds was one of three Chester County private school educators charged this past year with having inappropriate contact with students under their care.
Matthew Scavitto, a teacher at Phelps School in Willistown was charged with institutional sexual assault, corruption of minors, unlawful contact with a minor and endangering the welfare of children in June. He pleaded guilty in November and was placed on five years’ probation.
In August, a female swim coach and counselor at Malvern Preparatory School was charged with engaging in a risque relationship with one of her team members, a 16-year-old at the all-boys school, who she sent sexually inappropriate messages to and tried to form a romantic relationship with.
Emily Feeney is still facing felony counts of institutional sexual assault, unlawful contact with a minor, corruption of minors, and misdemeanor indecent assault, according to court records.
To contact staff writer Michael P. Rellahan call 610-696-1544.
