By Diana Graettinger | Bangor Daily News

MACHIAS — A former teacher at Washington Academy in East Machias was indicted Monday on eight counts of gross sexual assault for allegedly performing bogus medical examinations on two of his female students.

A Washington County grand jury also charged Barry K. Dean, 51 of Machias with seven counts of unlawful sexual contact, eight counts of assault and six counts of sexual abuse of a minor involving two other victims who were students at Washington Academy.

The charges stem from an investigation that began in May 1995 when the Washington County Sheriff’s Department was called to look into allegations of sexual assault on a student. Within a month, a second alleged victim had been identified and Dean had been charged with one count of sexual abuse of a minor in connection with an incident involving a 15-year-old girl.

The young woman told police she was a member of the Machias Valley Airport branch of the Civil Air Patrol. “She advised that Barry K. Dean, a marine trades instructor at the academy and the Civil Air Patrol captain, asked her to take `advanced medical’ with him and advised he `would teach her how to use supplies and things doctors use,’ ” the court records said.

On a Monday in March 1995, she allegedly went with Dean to the cellar of his home, where she saw a medical examining table and boxes of medical supplies. He allegedly told her that she needed “training” so she could “assist him and be present whenever he had to examine another woman,” according to court documents.

During that encounter Dean allegedly asked her to get on the examining table and remove her shirt and bra so he could do a breast exam. “He then performed a breast exam and subsequently helped her undress from the waist down. Barry K. Dean subsequently performed an internal exam as well as a [Pap] smear test’ on her,” the documents said. He later drove her to the Machias Valley Airport and instructed her not to tell anyone what had happened because “he would get into trouble.”

A week later, Dean reportedly talked to the 15-year-old girl again about the medical unit and asked her to stay after school so they could get started on the training. He allegedly told her they would go to his trailer so he could teach her to work with the equipment. Dean allegedly told her he needed to do another exam on her so he could pass “some kind of a medical services test.”

Once in the trailer, the documents state, he took her temperature and blood pressure, and advised her to remove her shirt. Then he allegedly rubbed her breasts, stomach and “everything,” the 15-year-old alleged.

“Once her pants were down, Barry K. Dean put a `large plastic, clear thing,’ inside her vagina, replacing it with a `smaller one’ when she complained of pain,” the court documents said. Dean again told the 15-year-old girl that she should not tell anyone.

According to the court documents, when Dean was confronted by academy Headmaster James Steenstra and then-SAD 77 Superintendent Betty Jordan, he told them he had performed an examination on two different occasions and asked the victim not to tell anyone. He also told the school administrators that “he had not used good judgment,’ the court record said.

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