Sexual assault victim sues Yale

NEW HAVEN, Conn. - Former geology professor Antonio Lasaga was convicted in 2002 on several counts for sexually assaulting a boy he mentored when the child was between 6 and 13 years old. He's serving a 20-year prison sentence.

The victim, identified only as "Joseph Doe," claims a former colleague of Lasaga's saw the boy with Lasaga in an empty classroom in the 1990s and failed to report it to authorities. The colleague is an unidentified Yale geology professor.

Thomas McNamara is the lawyer for the defendant, who is now in his 20s. He says the colleague was required by law to report the incident to a law enforcement agency and the state Department of Children and Families. The lawsuit says Yale is liable for the negligence.

Yale said Thursday that the lawsuit is without legal basis and that the plaintiff raised the claim in 2004, but failed to pursue it.

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Information from: New Haven Register, http://www.nhregister.com