Details of Kaminski Case Revealed in Affidavit
By Anne Brandes, Emily Kang, Felix Yeung and Daniel Zhang
Trigger Warning: This article involves sexual assault. Phillips Exeter has a number of resources for survivors in the Exeter community. To access these resources, please click here. Additionally, if you find yourself distressed by any details, please seek confidential help at the National Sexual Assault Hotline: (800) 656-4673.
The Exonian urges the Exeter community to respect the privacy of all anonymous individuals in the article below. Please do not attempt to use details from the article to identify individuals or contact them. They/them pronouns are used to protect anonymity.
Former Mathematics Instructor Szczesny Kaminski was arraigned this morning on three charges of Class A felonious pattern aggravated sexual assault and three charges of Class A misdemeanor sexual assault against an anonymous Academy student, who enrolled at Exeter in the fall of 2013. The Brentwood Circuit Court gave The Exonian access to the arraignment and to an affidavit by Exeter Police Department Deputy Chief Michael P. Munck, which revealed details concerning the case.
Kaminski’s interactions with the student began in their prep year. He taught the student math on three occasions: their prep fall, prep winter and lower winter terms. In an early class, the student recalled, Kaminski gripped their thigh. After having trouble with math in the spring term of their prep year, the student received tutoring from Kaminski. They worked in Kaminski’s classroom with an open door; after a while, he began to draw hearts on their papers.
In the middle of the semester, the student’s tutoring moved to Kaminski’s residence, where he abused the student three times during the spring term. Over the summer, Kaminski instructed the student to keep in touch with him through their Gmail, instead of their Exeter emails.
In their lower year, the student faced a disciplinary hearing for plagiarism, and Kaminski stepped forward as their faculty friend. Kaminski’s support in the hearing led him to become a “part of” their family. The student’s parents felt “indebted” to Kaminski for his guidance, according to County Attorney Patricia Conway.
Over the course of the next few years, the family communicated frequently with Kaminski over the phone and email. Kaminski also visited the family in their out-of-state home—traveling to theme parks with the student—and accompanied the family on a trip overseas.
Kaminski’s sexual abuse started during preparation for the discipline case and continued throughout the student’s lower and upper years. The last incident of abuse was believed to be in the spring of 2016, when the student went to Kaminski’s house for help. According to their mother, the anonymous student said that Kaminski had “taken a lot from [them].”
In the fall of 2015, the Dean’s Office received a report of Kaminski coming and going from the anonymous student’s dormitory at odd hours. Kaminski frequently drove this student to music lessons in Boston, and he tutored them privately within his own residence at 74 Front Street. The Academy received more reports of suspicious interactions between Kaminski and the student in 2016. Notably, faculty members reported an incident where the student had been late to check-in. Dorm faculty later discovered they had been at Kaminski’s residence.
The Academy opened an investigation in 2016, and the student’s parents were notified. The student’s mother reportedly stated that they “trust[ed] Kaminski and [were] not concerned.” Two anonymous deans met with Kaminski and discussed boundary issues; Kaminski was warned not to be alone with the student and not to drive them anywhere.
The student denied all allegations against Kaminski over the course of the investigation, and their parents expressed a desire not to have the concerns investigated. Detective Patrick Mulholland of the Exeter Police Department still described concern over these interactions and the possibility of grooming. The Academy issued a second warning in April 2016, requesting that Kaminski discontinue private interactions with the student.
On May 9, 2016, a month later, Campus Safety received reports that the student was seen walking to Kaminski’s apartment. Kaminski was later seen driving the student home. Campus Safety reported this incident to police. Mulholland raised to the student’s parents that Kaminski’s disregard of employer warnings was another sign of grooming. The parents continued to regard Kaminski as a family friend.
In a letter sent out to the wider Exeter community yesterday, Principal Bill Rawson wrote that “the Academy placed Mr. Kaminski on written notice that certain actions would result in his termination” after the conclusion of the 2016 investigation. Kaminski’s encounter with the student at his home and decision to drive the student back after the administration’s written notice did not result in his termination. Rawson was not Principal in 2016.
The then-Dean of Faculty “made contact via email” with Kaminski about his breach of Exeter’s warnings; the affidavit does not state whether Kaminski received additional discipline for violating this warning.
In the student’s senior year, Kaminski created a Math 999 course—a small, seminar course for which instructors do not receive additional pay. He insisted to the Department Chair and Deans’ Office that the anonymous student be part of the course. Though the Dean’s Office debated allowing the course to go through, administrators allowed the student to enroll. The student graduated in 2017.
This January, police in another state notified the Exeter Police Department that a male faculty member at PEA had sexually abused a student.
Detective Evan Nadeau, now a state trooper, notified the Academy on January 23, 2020. PEA identified the faculty member described in the report as Kaminski and placed him on administrative leave.
During Phillips Exeter’s internal investigation, Kaminski sent multiple messages and voicemails to the anonymous student and their family. He urged the student to help block the investigation and asked them to delete recent messages.
Kaminski sent this message to the anonymous student on February 19, 2020. Brentwood Circuit Court
In one voicemail, Kaminski told the student that disclosure would be “terrible for both of us.” “I’m being punished in multiple ways. I will most likely lose a job. PEA has a policy of disclosure, and I do not want my name to be plastered everywhere,” he said. He left a similar voicemail for the student’s mother.
Over the span of seven years, a number identified as Kaminski’s exchanged 2,123 iMessages and 16,864 iChat messages with the student.
Kaminski sent this message to the anonymous student’s mother on March 29, 2020. Portions of the message are redacted to protect the privacy of the student. Brentwood Circuit Court
With no identifying information, the Exeter Police Department’s investigation stalled during PEA’s internal inquiry. On March 13, however, Nadeau received an email from the anonymous student’s attorney, disclosing their and Kaminski’s names. EPD reopened the investigation and again alerted the Academy. Exeter ceased its independent investigation in response, as per the Academy’s Memorandum of Understanding with the department.
After interviewing former students, faculty members and administrators, the EPD concluded there was probable cause Kaminski had committed three counts of sexual assault. Kaminski was arrested on August 24. Kaminski was fired by the Academy in April; the Exeter Police Department asked the Academy not to disclose this firing until Kaminski’s arrest.
Ann Malabre ‘81 gave The Exonian a statement on behalf of the Phillips Exeter Alumni for Truth and Healing (PATH) advocacy group. “Along with the rest of the Exeter community, PATH is dismayed by the news of the recent arrest of Szczesny Kaminski on charges of sexual assault and concerned for the individuals involved. We underline our stance that the Exeter community will be strengthened by the Academy’s acknowledgement and accountability toward the harm that has occurred to sexual misconduct victims,” she said. “We believe that Exeter has a responsibility to create pathways for healing, consistent with its charter to instill the highest morality, seeking reconciliation and remediating actions with alumni whose lives have been inextricably altered by their harmful experiences.”
This morning, Judge Polly L. Hall of the Brentwood Circuit Court set cash bail at $50,000 for Kaminski. He must have no contact with the student or family, not possess any firearms or weapons, refrain from the excessive use of alcohol, sign a waiver of extradition, surrender all passports and have no unsupervised contact with any unrelated minor under the age of eighteen. He will be released pending trial if he meets these terms.
At the bail hearing, defense counsel Amy Spencer said that Kaminski was not a danger to the community or a flight risk. Spencer also noted that Kaminski suffers from severe hypertension in her argument.
Conway argued against bail. "He assaulted [them] not once, not twice, but over, and over, and over again. For years. This was clearly calculated… He didn't stop, even after being warned twice by administration, knowing he was being watched by faculty members,” Conway said. “He is a predator. And he is clearly and presently a danger to our society."
Campus Safety: (603) 777 4444
Exeter Police Department (Non-Emergency): (603) 772 1212
National Sexual Assault Hotline: (800) 656 4673