AKRON — A former student who fathered a child with his teacher during a yearslong relationship filed a lawsuit this week against the teacher, two Ohio school districts and several school officials and staff members.

Laura Lynn Cross, 38, of Tallmadge, was sentenced to three years in prison in June 2018 after pleading guilty to three counts of sexual battery. She also lost her teaching license.

In the suit, the former student, now 21, alleges the Akron and Tallmadge school districts and their employees knew Cross was abusing him but did nothing to stop it.

The suit was filed in Summit County Common Pleas Court against Cross, Akron Superintendent David James, Akron coach Ricky Powers, Tallmadge Superintendent Jeff Ferguson, Tallmadge coach Joe Vassalotti and unidentified administrators and employees of Akron and Tallmadge schools.

According to the suit, the “wanton and reckless conduct” of multiple administrators and employees of both school districts failed to prevent Cross from “sexually abusing, assaulting, and raping” the student over a period of seven years. The suit also alleges the administrators and employees knew about the abuse, from “obvious signs” to the student’s father repeatedly telling them about it, but didn’t do anything to stop it.

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"So as to not prejudice this or any other case, Akron Public Schools withholds comment on pending litigation,” district spokesperson Mark Williamson said in an email.

Phone calls and email messages for Tallmadge City Schools and attorneys for the former student were not immediately returned Tuesday.

An attorney for Cross was not listed in the court case.

The former student attended both Akron and Tallmadge schools. The Beacon Journal is not identifying him because he is a victim of sexual assault. Cross was a former Akron teacher and former volunteer, PTA member and board member of Tallmadge City Schools, according to the suit.

Alleged timeline

Cross reportedly began the abuse, which was “well-known within these school systems and ignored,” when the student was in sixth grade, in 2009, until his graduation from Tallmadge High School in 2016, according to the suit.

The suit states Cross began grooming the student when he was 12 as his sixth-grade music teacher and continued grooming him as his eighth-grade language arts teacher. In between, the student temporarily lived with his father in Alabama but returned to Akron.

The suit alleges Cross showed the student “special and inappropriate attention,” like bringing him food from outside restaurants; taking him swimming, bowling and to the Pro Football Hall of Fame; and buying him expensive items like Nike shoes.

According to the suit, the student would also spend the night at Cross’ house, with the two arriving at school together in the morning and leaving together most afternoons. The suit states Cross and the then-15-year-old student began a sexual relationship when he was in ninth grade.

The suit states the student’s mother, father and aunt suspected there was something more than a teacher-student relationship between the two, and the father went to Akron's Buchtel High School to report his suspicions that Cross was sexually abusing his son. Nothing was done, despite the father’s multiple complaints to Powers and others, the suit alleges.

In August 2013, the student was enrolled at Tallmadge High School because he had moved into Cross’ Tallmadge home, according to the suit, which also says Cross convinced the student’s mother to give her partial custody so he could move in with her. During the 2013-14 school year, “it was well-known in the school community” the two were having sex, according to the suit.

The student’s father was “irate” when he learned his son had moved in with Cross and repeatedly reported that Cross was sexually abusing his son to Vassalotti and others, but nothing was done, the suit alleges.

Akron police called

In 2015, the summer before the student’s senior year, his mother found Twitter messages on her son’s account from Cross that were “so horrific” she called Akron police, according to the suit.

The student again went to live with his father in Alabama, but the suit alleges Cross “applied predatorial forms of manipulation, sabotage, and abuse” to make the student return to live with her in Tallmadge. In December 2015, Cross gave birth to the student’s baby, who was adopted at birth.

The suit states the former student has “suffered severe and permanent physical, psychological and emotional damage as a result of these failures.” The man is seeking actual and punitive damages and legal fees.

The case has been assigned to Judge Alison McCarty.

Summit County Judge Tammy O'Brien granted Cross an early release from prison March 14 and placed her on probation for two years. O'Brien previously designated Cross a Tier 3 sex offender, which means she must register her address every 90 days for the rest of her life.

A federal judge last month threw out a separate lawsuit filed against the Akron and Tallmadge school districts involving Cross. In that case, the student sued the school districts, saying they failed to protect him from the abuse by Cross. The judge ruled the student filed the lawsuit after the statute of limitations for a sexual assault.

emills@thebeaconjournal.com

@EmilyMills818