Click here for the entire text of the victim's statement.
HAVERHILL — Howard Curtis, former director of the city's public library, will spend the next four to six years in state prison for sexually abusing a child.
Curtis pleaded guilty yesterday in Salem Superior Court to two counts of sexual abuse of a child under 15. The plea came as the result of a complaint by a New Hampshire man who said that when he was a child in Haverhill in the 1980s, Curtis forced him to perform sexual acts.
Curtis, 58, faced the possibility of life in prison. His lawyer, Joseph Griffin of Boston, asked for a lesser sentence and told Judge Howard Whitehead that Curtis "was himself a childhood victim of abuse."
Griffin also said Curtis has "struggled with alcoholism over the years" and that he is in a rehabilitation program. Curtis will serve his sentence at MCI-Cedar Junction, a maximum security prison for male offenders.
Curtis was accused of molesting boys while he was a Boy Scout leader in Haverhill in the 1980s. He was indicted by a grand jury in June 2007, was arraigned in Salem Superior Court and had pleaded not guilty.
Yesterday, Curtis, dressed in a dark gray suit and wearing a yellow dress shirt and striped tie, sat within 5 feet of the judge and answered questions about his understanding of the charges and his mental and physical state.
The judge told Curtis that he may be required to register as a sex offender, and that a felony charge of sexually abusing a minor could be punishable by a life term in prison.
Prosecutor A.J. Camelio asked that Curtis serve five to seven years and told the judge that Curtis abused his authority over the victim beginning when the boy was 13.
"It was well planned and an abuse of authority and power over the victim," Camelio said.
Camelio told the judge that Curtis' victim, who is now 34, did not want to be in court and instead submitted a victim impact statement, which Camelio read to the judge. It told of Curtis giving him alcohol and abusing him sexually through the night, and of the victim now needing extensive therapy and medication to remain emotionally stable.
The statement read, in part, "I'm all mixed up with feelings of anger, hurt, and disgust. Only now do I understand that he abused me — and I recently learned that I wasn't the only one."
"Howard needs help — I don't want to and will not become like him," it read. "It hurts me to be around 11- and 12-year-olds. I fear them and I am uncomfortable with them. It's because of him that this emotion of fear overwhelms me and causes me to cry."
After yesterday's sentencing, Griffin told The Eagle-Tribune that Judge Whitehead exceeded guidelines and that the sentence he gave Curtis "wasn't too far below the prosecutor's recommendation."
"We avoided a trial and there is civil litigation that will clearly be affected by today's plea," Griffin said.
Curtis also faces a civil lawsuit filed by the victim. He accuses Curtis of molesting him and other boys when he was a Boy Scout in the mid-1980s. The man, who grew up in Haverhill, is suing the city and the Boy Scouts of America. The lawsuit names three former Boy Scouts, among them the plaintiff, who said they were molested by Curtis in Haverhill.
After yesterday's sentencing, the victim's lawyer, attorney Lisa Arrowood of Boston, told The Eagle-Tribune that the guilty plea on the part of Curtis can only make her client's case stronger.
"The fact that he pled guilty demonstrates the truth of what my client has been saying all along," Arrowood said. "(The victim) is pleased that Howard Curtis is getting a small measure of justice. It's a positive thing for his civil case."
She said the civil case is pending in front of a Federal Court in Boston. She said her client is seeking monetary compensation, and it will be up to a jury to decide what amount, if any, he should be awarded.
The Eagle-Tribune is withholding the victim's name because of the sexual nature of the crimes.
The civil lawsuit says the man has had several stays in mental health facilities and is now in therapy. The lawsuit alleges that Curtis molested boys on Boy Scout camping trips throughout Massachusetts and New Hampshire, at Curtis' mother's house in Rockland, and at Curtis' residences in Haverhill. Those residences include two historic sites — the John Greenleaf Whittier Birthplace and Kimball Tavern. Curtis lived in both places at times as a caretaker. Two of the boys were molested "hundreds of times," according to the lawsuit.
The sexual abuse happened while Curtis, who was Haverhill's library director from 1981 to 1996, was an assistant scoutmaster with the Boy Scouts, the lawsuit said. The victims were in his Boy Scout troop, according to court records. After resigning from the Haverhill library in 1996, Curtis became director of the Corona, Calif., Public Library and resigned from there nine years later.
Criminal charges against Curtis came after he was unanimously selected as Beverly's library director by its board of library trustees on Jan. 5, 2006. He was scheduled to sign a contract and start his job that February.
But in late January, Beverly library officials announced that Curtis, who was living in California, had changed his mind. City Solicitor Roy Gelineau said Curtis resigned after a relative of one of his alleged victims wrote a letter to Beverly officials warning about Curtis' alleged abuse.
The letter writer — Richard Gilmore, 79, of East Kingston, N.H. — was in court yesterday with family members to find out what would happen to Curtis. After Curtis' sentencing, Gilmore told The Eagle-Tribune that he had hoped for a longer sentence.
"I thought it should be more but I'm satisfied that he won't be abusing any children for a while," Gilmore said. "For the next four to six years a lot of kids are going to be safe that might not have been."
Haverhill City Solicitor William Cox Jr. said Mayor James Fiorentini first became aware of the allegations last November, when he received a "demand" letter from the man's lawyers — outlining his claims against the city.
As a result of that letter, Cox said, the mayor referred the matter to the Haverhill Police Department, which Cox said conducted an investigation that resulted in Curtis being indicted.
Cox said the man's lawyers in their November "demand" letter asked the city for $2.5 million in order to "avoid the expense and trauma litigation will exact on all parties."
Haverhill has filed a motion to dismiss the case against the city in Salem Superior Court for two reasons: The statute of limitations has expired and the allegations of misconduct happened outside the scope of his employment.
Curtis has been moving from job to job during the last couple of years, as the charges against him emerged.
In January 2006, he was named director of the Beverly library but refused the job three weeks later when questioned about allegations of child molestation.
Then in May that year, he was named director of the West Tisbury Free Public Library. He resigned less than 11 months later when confronted about his past by the board of trustees, according to the Martha's Vineyard Times, the local newspaper.
><p>
Howard Curtis' history
r Grew up in Haverhill
r June 1974 to July 1981: Haverhill Public Library worker, started as senior page and worked his way up to librarian
r July 1981: Named acting director of the Haverhill library
r August 1981: Named library director
r June 16, 1996: Resigned from the library to become director of the Corona, Calif., Public Library
r June 2005: Resigned from the Corona library
r May 2006: Named director of the West Tisbury Free Public Library on Martha's Vineyard
r April 2007: Resigned from the West Tisbury job
Click here for the entire text of the victim's statement.
