Malvern Prep Guidance Counselor Charged With Sexually Assaulting Student

By JASON LADAY

A Malvern Preparatory School staff member has been arrested for allegedly trying to seduce a student by way of “highly sexualized” text messages and emails, all while the student told her repeatedly to stop.

Emily Feeney, 40, of Wayne, has been charged with institutional sexual assault, unlawful contact with a minor, corruption of minors and indecent assault. She had been employed as a swim coach and guidance counselor at Malvern Prep, a private, all-boys high school, for nearly two years. The victim, a member of the swim team who had been assigned to Feeney as his college guidance counselor, was 16 at the time the alleged assault began in the summer of 2014.

Following the filing of charges on Wednesday, the school has terminated her employment and is now fully cooperating with authorities, according to Chester County District Attorney Tom Hogan.

“As the director of college counseling and a coach, the defendant was entrusted with extraordinary access and control over Malvern Prep students,” said Hogan in a statement. “She betrayed that trust by trying to seduce a student, even when he asked her to stop.

“The fact that this was a female adult corrupting a male juvenile does not change the criminality of the conduct.”

Authorities were alerted to Feeney’s alleged behavior in May, when the Chester County Detective Child Abuse Unit received a report from the county Department of Children, Youth and Families regarding a Malvern Prep student receiving “high sexualized” emails and texts from his swim teacher and guidance counselor.

According to the district attorney’s office, the subsequent investigation revealed Feeney had kissed the victim, and had emailed him photographs of herself in various stages of undress, including a topless photo.

One email reportedly sent from Feeney to the victim read, “I adore you – always have, always will.”

According to Hogan, when the student rebuffed her, Feeney sent another email: “You can either start talking to me again and respond to me, or we can discuss this in my office Monday. If you ever cared about me, please don’t shut me out. It’s too painful.”

The victim reportedly told her to stop, writing back: “I’m not interested in you end of story I’m 16 I’m not into you.”

On another occasion, Feeney allegedly used her position as guidance counselor to promise him admission to Harvard University, through her various professional connections, in order to coerce him into a physical relationship.

According to Hogan, Feeney forwarded a message she received from Harvard University regarding the victim being a candidate for the Ivy League school’s swim team, adding “You [victim’s name] owe me big time. And no high fives.”

On yet another occasion, Feeney allegedly texted the victim this message: “If you’d just stop fighting and let it happen, you’d be a lot less uptight and much happier.”

In all, investigators found hundreds of emails between Feeney and the student on her computer, many of which were “nonprofessional and sexually suggestive,” Hogan said. Feeney reportedly used her official school email account to send the alleged correspondence to the student’s private account.

“As schools prepare for the start of classes, this serves as an important reminder that certain safeguards should be in place to protect students,” said Hogan. “Schools should have policies to limit communication between teachers, coaches and students to official school matters, on school accounts that can be monitored.

“There should be no contact between teachers/coaches and students on private email accounts or social media,” he added. “We have repeatedly seen cases where inappropriate communication between teachers/coaches and students have evolved into sexual assaults.”

The cases is being investigated by the Chester County District Attorney’s Child Abuse Unit and the Malvern Police Department. Anyone with further information is asked to contact Chester County Detective Jerry Davis at 610-344-6866.

Photo: Emily Feeney. Courtesy of the Chester County District Attorney’s Office.