New Bedford family wants ‘justice for Jacob’
NEW BEDFORD — The attorney for the estate of Jacob Pothier, an 18-year-old who died in a car crash in January, sent a letter to the Greater New Bedford Regional Vocational Technical High School this month, alleging the district and its administrators failed to protect him, a student, from “an inappropriate relationship, including a sexual relationship,” with a then-school employee, Kathleen Martins.
The letter asserts wrongful death — a civil claim — and seeks damages for personal and psychological injuries.
Martins, now 45, worked as a security officer at the high school until March 2023, when she resigned. She was also the other vehicle occupant (and owner), and only survivor in the Jan. 5 single-car crash.
Jacob’s family told The Light that an inappropriate relationship began between Jacob and Martins while he was a student and she was an employee, and that it continued up until Jacob’s final moment on the Padanaram Bridge in Dartmouth.
Older siblings shared that Jacob told them at different times in late 2021 and 2022 that he was involved with a security guard at the school.
Martins, when reached for comment before publication, said she had nothing to say. Martins and her legal guardians did not respond to several earlier questions and requests for comment from The Light. Per court filings, she was placed in a temporary conservatorship earlier this year after sustaining head injuries in the crash.
The legal notice, called a presentment letter, sent by the attorney for Jacob’s estate, is a prerequisite to a civil lawsuit against a public employer in Massachusetts, and essentially notifies the school of the grounds for filing a claim.
The school has six months to respond — during which time it can investigate, gather evidence, or offer to settle the case before it is brought to court.
In a statement, Voc-Tech Superintendent Michael Watson said the school does not comment on personnel matters involving past or current employees, but stated generally that the school takes allegations of “inappropriate behavior” seriously.
“If we learn of inappropriate behavior towards a student by a staff member or anyone else, we take it seriously and address it swiftly, by investigating the matter thoroughly and involving other agencies, including law enforcement officials and the child protection agencies,” he stated. Watson did not address questions on the presentment letter from Jacob’s attorney, or on how the school conducted an investigation.
Tiffani Pothier, 24, one of Jacob’s sisters, told The Light that she learned of the relationship between Jacob and Martins in December 2022 and alerted the school Principal Warley Williams in January 2023 by phone. That month, Jacob was questioned by administrators about the allegations, according to emails the family shared with The Light. In early March, Martins resigned.
Principal Williams, when reached by The Light, said he cannot comment, as it is an ongoing legal matter.
The presentment letter asserts that “Voc-Tech knew or should have known about the inappropriate relationship between Mrs. Martins and Pothier as early as his freshman year.”
Watson has not responded to questions about when the school became aware of or was first notified of concerns about Martins’ alleged conduct, or how many staff, if any, reported it to administration as mandated reporters.
Jacob’s estate is being represented by attorney Scott Lang, who confirmed the presentment letter was mailed to the school this month.
Stacey Pothier, Jacob’s mother, said she thinks Jacob was 16 years old — the age of consent in Massachusetts — when the relationship started. Jacob was 15 when he started as a freshman at Voc-Tech in fall 2021; he turned 16 that December.
Under Massachusetts law, no criminal statute applies to conduct by a school employee engaging in a sexual relationship with a 16-year-old student, who is treated under the law as capable of consenting.
Child advocates call that a “consent loophole,” and they have been trying to close it for years, pushing lawmakers on Beacon Hill for more than a decade to enact legal protections, which already exist for students in many other states.
Such laws elsewhere criminalize sexual misconduct by school staff (even when the students are otherwise of consenting age), and can result in felony charges, the requirement to register as a sex offender, or even consequences for the school.
Voc-Tech’s rules against harassment
Asked what training the school mandates regarding sexual harassment (and how often), Watson, the Voc-Tech superintendent, said in an email that all staff are required to annually review and sign the employee handbook, which “contains expectations for how all staff conduct themselves, both on and off duty, while working as an employee.”
“When violations are identified, they are addressed through our human resource process and in accordance with our union contracts. … Most staff would not be privy to these incidents,” Watson wrote. “Additionally, all employees are required to attend civil rights training annually, which includes training on responsibilities for personnel to report abuse and neglect, as required by law.”
The week of Jan. 15, staff received an email from administration about the Title IX policy and procedure for sexual harassment, according to a staff member. When asked, Watson did not provide comment on why the school shared the policy then, just over a week after Jacob died.
Voc-Tech’s employee handbook for the most recent academic year lists “engaging in an inappropriate relationship with a student” as a form of misconduct.
“Interaction with individual students which goes beyond a professional teacher/employee/coach relationship gives rise to charges of inappropriate personal involvement,” the handbook states. “Such relationships are not compatible with professional ethics and shall be avoided. Anyone who violates this policy [is] subject to disciplinary action up to and including immediate dismissal.”
The handbook also states any physical contact between employees and students should have “a valid educational purpose and objective.”
“Employees who observe physical contact between students and employees which they deem to be inappropriate are expected to report those observations to the Principal and/or the Superintendent-Director as soon as possible,” the handbook continues. “If the contact is perceived to be immediately harmful by the observer, prompt intervention to prevent further harm is expected.”
Dan Schorr, a Title IX investigator and former sex crimes prosecutor based in New York, speaking generally about misconduct in schools, said employees’ fear of retribution can act as a deterrent to reporting concerning behavior (and possible misconduct) by colleagues.
“Often there is retaliation, and retaliation can occur in subtle ways. Many people are concerned about their careers, and for understandable reasons,” he said. But he noted such hurdles can be surmounted by robustly training and educating staff on policies and reporting procedures.
Status of the crash investigation
On a Friday in January at about 10:30 p.m., Dartmouth police responded to Padanaram Bridge for reports of a single-vehicle crash with ejections.
Officers found Jacob, then a junior at Voc-Tech, and Martins lying “unresponsive in the roadway near a heavily damaged 2022 Honda Accord,” police said in a statement. One responder over the radio reported agonal breathing, a condition often associated with cardiac arrest, for one of the individuals.
Jacob’s death certificate lists multiple blunt force injuries as his cause of death. Stacey Pothier said Jacob likely died instantly from neck trauma, according to information she received from police.
The Bristol County District Attorney’s office, which is overseeing the investigation, has only stated that it remains ongoing, and did not answer specific questions, as the office does not comment on ongoing investigations. No charges have been filed, a DA spokesperson confirmed this month.
The Dartmouth Police Department has not made reports on the accident available, citing public records law that allows agencies to withhold information related to ongoing investigations as it could “compromise the intimate details of said investigation.”
Stacey Pothier said police told her that Jacob’s blood alcohol level was slightly above the legal limit, but does not know that of Martins. The presentment letter claims that Dartmouth police “discovered many mini Smirnoff liquor bottles (shooters) inside the vehicle.” Stacey Pothier said police told her the bottles were not open.
She also said police told her Jacob’s shoe was found under a pedal, and that both were ejected from the driver’s side of the car.
It is unclear whether Jacob or Martins was driving the car when it crashed. Stacey Pothier said that Jacob did not have a driver’s license or learner’s permit. Vehicle owners who knowingly allow an unlicensed person to drive can be charged with a misdemeanor, per Massachusetts statute.
Martins sustained a traumatic brain injury from the crash, February court records state. An attorney also wrote about a month after the crash that Martins was “only oriented to herself, place, and familiar people.”
She is “in need of a Conservator to make financial decisions and arrange for a safe discharge from the hospital,” another court record from February stated.
Timothy Martins and Tara DeSouza, listed in February as her spouse and sister, respectively, were assigned as guardians for Martins, court records show. They did not respond to requests for comment and questions, including on the cognitive status of Martins as of June.
This week, Kathleen Martins was working at a health clinic, a clinic administrator confirmed. A Light reporter also observed her walking out of the workplace and getting picked up in a vehicle.
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Jacob was laid to rest in Pine Grove Cemetery on a Friday in January, with dozens of family members, friends, students and school staff in attendance. After paying their respects, some crossed the road, returning to the Voc-Tech campus, which sits directly across the street.
“Whatever way this turns out, nothing is going to be enough for what we lost,” Stacey Pothier said. “But while I’m here on this Earth, I have to know that Jacob’s death isn’t nothing. We need to make sure this doesn’t happen to other kids.”
“I just want justice for Jacob,” she said.
Email Anastasia E. Lennon at [email protected].
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