Maine district sued over special-needs program after sexual exploitation of child with autism

A Maine district has been accused of violating state and federal laws after a former special education technician was convicted of sexual exploitation of a minor.

The technician, Benjamin Conroy, died in federal prison in October 2024 after being sentenced to 22 years in 2023, according to the local ABC affiliate.

Nearly two years later, the victim’s mother sued Portland Public Schools on June 17, arguing the district failed to follow safety protocols required by law.

“The lawsuit claims that the department knew that the BEACH program … was severely understaffed in regards to educational technicians,” the affiliate explained, adding the technician had “‘no meaningful screening’ of his application” along with a lack of background checks and failure to contact previous employers.

Conroy had been working at Ocean Avenue Elementary School in Portland in fall 2021 when he interacted closely with a 6-year-old nonverbal child who had autism, according to the lawsuit.

“At the time of the sexual exploitation that Conroy was convicted of, he was working with the girl one-on-one, which the lawsuit says violates the district’s policy and contradicted what the child’s mother had been promised in terms of only female technicians working with her daughter,” the affiliate wrote.

Police began investigating after receiving a tip from someone Conroy had contacted on the Grindr dating app, saying he had sent sexually explicit images of the victim, according to the news outlet.

“When investigators searched Conroy’s phone, they say they found he had also videotaped his interactions with the child.”

‘The behavior will not be tolerated’

Part of the criminal case against Conroy included a recommendation for the child to attend a day treatment program “to help her recover from what happened to her and to receive those services until she turns 21,” the affiliate wrote.

However, none of those services – estimated to be $2.8 million – had been received at the time the lawsuit was filed.

“The lawsuit also says the girl has moved to a different school district and her mother has been forced to stop working outside the home in order to care for her child,” the affiliate noted.

The district enrolls more than 6,000 students across 17 schools, with 33.6% of attendees “economically disadvantaged,” according to U.S. News & World Report.

“Plaintiffs have suffered extensive damages and damages must be provided in such amount as to send a message to all similarly situated public school institutions that the behavior will not be tolerated,” the lawsuit reads.

As previously reported by Heartlander News, the entire scope of sexual abuse in public schools remains unclear because of a lack of reporting.

“We’ve been collecting Google alerts since 2014 on teacher arrests, just for sexual misconduct type of offenses,” said Terri Miller, president of the organization S.E.S.A.M.E. “95% of educator sexual misconduct cases are handled in-house and are never reported to law enforcement. The numbers of arrests are just a fraction of the problem. But there have been thousands just since 2014.”