A former substitute teacher and cheerleading coach indicted in Ohio as recently as August on six counts of unlawful sexual conduct against minors now faces a federal lawsuit that alleges abuse of “numerous” students from 2003 to 2016.
The lawsuit filed Monday by the firms Leeseberg Tuttle and Abdnour Weiker, LLP, named as defendants Paige Huck, her ex-husband, longtime River Valley High School wrestling coach and teacher Matthew Huck, former principals T.R. Edwards and James Michael Jacobs, former district superintendent Jude Meyers, and the Gallia County Local Schools Board of Education.
Michal Paige Huck, a 45-year-old referred to as Paige Huck in court documents, sexually abused lead plaintiff John Doe “and numerous others despite rumors, indications, evidence, actual complaints, and written and oral reprimands about such conduct over the course of nearly two decades,” the lawsuit alleged.
The civil complaint claimed Paige Huck’s alleged abuse was made possible by the “assistance, facilitation, and knowledge of her then-husband,” Coach Matthew Huck, and former school administrators named as defendants. As of Tuesday, the court docket did not list attorneys of record for the civil defendants, but the district has denied claims that allegations against Paige Huck weren’t reported.
The statement from current superintendent Phillip Kuhn on the Gallia County Local Schools website, noting that agriculture teacher and wrestling coach Matthew Huck was placed on leave, said the following:
The Gallia County Local School District has been made aware of the charges filed against a former substitute teacher and cheerleading advisor. The District continues to cooperate with the appropriate agencies in this matter. It should be noted that this person is not an employee of the District and has not worked in the District since 2007. It is the District’s understanding that any allegations brought to the District’s attention in the past were reported to the proper authorities and handled appropriately. However, given the prosecutor’s decision to indict this person and because of her previous affiliation, through her former husband, with our extracurricular programs, and out of an abundance of caution, we have placed him on administrative leave pending the outcome of this matter. The safety, security, and welfare of our students are of utmost importance to the District, and the District has no reason to believe that any current students are involved in the charges filed against this former employee.
The law firms suing said in a press release on the lawsuit that former school higher-ups were being sued for “their deliberate indifference, failure to investigate, and failure to report known sexual abuse of multiple River Valley High School students (RHVS) between the ages of 13-17 by Paige Huck and Matthew Huck.”
The complaint included shocking allegations of abuse by the former varsity cheerleading coach and substitute teacher during a so-called “lock in” at the Huck household in 2004.
“Paige Huck and Coach Huck would frequently host parties, sleepovers, and ‘lock ins’ at their private residence, which typically included members of the cheerleading squad, football team, wrestling team, and/or FFA organization,” the lawsuit said.
During one such “lock in” where pornography was playing on the living room TV, Paige Huck “engaged in sexual intercourse with numerous male students” in a bedroom, where the wrestler victims “stood in a line and took turns having sex” with her as her then-husband stood by and watched, the complaint alleged.
River Valley High School, pictured during a news report on Paige Huck’s indictment (WSAZ/screengrab)
The complaint alleged three cheerleaders witnessed the incident and “immediately reported what they saw to Principal Jacobs on the next school day,” but the cheerleaders “were never contacted again regarding what they reported” and “[n]o investigation or report of Coach Huck and Paige Huck’s misconduct was performed by Defendant BOE or its employees.”
Instead, the cheerleaders were allegedly “harassed by multiple RVHS staff members, including Paige Huck, prompting one to quit cheerleading altogether.”
“This fact indicates that Principal Jacobs failed to protect the identity of the witnesses who reported the inappropriate behavior, subjecting them to harassment, and discouraging any future witnesses from being honest and forthright about what they saw the Hucks doing with students,” the plaintiff’s lawyers concluded.
The complaint not only included allegations related to John Doe, but said Paige Huck abused Victims A through E over a decade.
Several of the alleged incidents took place during cheerleading and wrestling “sleepovers” while Paige Huck was employed, but even though her employment ended with a 2007 resignation and even though she was banned from being on school grounds, that ban was not enforced by school administrators, giving her “free rein to prey upon, groom, and ultimately have sexual contact with additional RVHS students from 2008 through 2019, including Plaintiff,” the suit alleged.
Wrestlers John Doe, then a senior, and Victim E, then a freshman, in February 2016 spent a night at the Huck home before traveling to a tournament, the lawsuit said.
Paige Huck put Fifty Shades of Grey on TV and “proceeded to have sexual intercourse with” both wrestlers while her husband watched through a window on the front porch, the complaint alleged.
Coach Matthew Huck allegedly texted his then-wife “[w]hile they were engaged in this sexual act” to ask her what she was up to.
“Paige Huck responded to Coach Huck via text and said that she was ‘f—ing one and s—ing the other,’ to which Coach Huck responded, ‘That’s hot. Don’t get caught,”” the complaint further alleged.
The Hucks went on to divorce in 2020, the suit said.
Read the lawsuit here.
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