Former students confront ‘Mr Wonderful’ teacher accused of grievous crimes
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A former private school teacher nicknamed “Mr. Wonderful” has been charged with three counts of rape against two of his former students.
Matthew Rutledge, 64, appeared in Berkshire Superior Court in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, for a hearing Wednesday after Melissa Fares, 33, and Hilary Simon, 39, accused their teachers of molesting them while they were students at Miss Hall’s School. The alleged harassment occurred between 2000 and 2010. He pleaded not guilty.
According to the statement made by the Berkshire District Attorney’s Office, the allegations include allegations that Rutledge groomed and repeatedly harassed students.
“For a long time, I was living in trauma without fully understanding it,” Fares said in a statement shared by the Berkshire District Attorney’s Office. he said. “I began to piece together the truth about what had happened to me over the last few years: Matt Rutledge used me, abused me, and raped me. I was groomed and threatened into silence by a serial predator. My youth was not my youth at all.”
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Matthew Rutledge (pictured) was arraigned Wednesday in Berkshire Superior Court in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. (Report via ABC Affiliate WCVB/Reuters)
Simon said she was 15 when Rutledge first began “treating” her, and the abuse “continued for years” after she left campus.
“I battled this privately for 20 years,” he said in his statement. “I had been fighting this battle publicly for two years. Before all of this, I was just a normal person. A lawyer, a wife, and a mother. A woman trying to build a life around something I buried. Then Melissa Fares called. I didn’t know Melissa. I picked up the phone and told her I’d been waiting for this call for 20 years.”
According to NBC, based on a report prepared for Miss Hall’s School, Rutledge allegedly called out “Make way for Mr. Wonderful” while walking down the corridors.
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Miss Hall’s School is an independent college preparatory boarding and day school for girls in grades 9 through 12, located in Massachusetts. (Google Maps)
Fares and Simon said they discovered they had similar accounts of Rutledge’s alleged harassment in 2024 and decided to pursue the charges together.
Despite the allegations, the district attorney’s office at the time refused to move forward with the case, citing Massachusetts’ then-age of consent law, which allowed adults to have sex with a person over 16, according to the women.
The two women then pushed for legislation that would close what they called a “loophole” and make it illegal for a teacher to have sex with a student.
Rutledge is now charged under separate rape laws. Prosecutors have not publicly said what led to the decision to charge Rutledge.
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Two of Rutledge’s students tried to file criminal charges in 2024, but the Massachusetts age of consent law prevented the district attorney from pursuing the case, the women said. (Getty Images)
Rutledge was indicted by the District Attorney’s Office last month.
Speaking at a press conference after the hearing, Fares claimed to reporters that Miss Hall’s School was aware of Rutledge’s alleged behaviour.
“Miss Hall’s School knew,” he said. “The whole school knew. They enabled a culture of abuse for decades. They failed us, our families and every girl relied on them to protect her. They too must be held accountable.”
In a statement shared with Fox News Digital, Miss Hall’s School said it was cooperating with authorities and acknowledged the impact this had on its community.
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“Wednesday’s hearing was a significant and painful moment for our community,” the school said. “We will continue to cooperate fully with authorities. We regret the harm suffered by survivors and the impact on our community.”
A pre-trial hearing is scheduled for June 18, according to WCVB.
Fox News Digital’s Sarah Rumpf-Whitten contributed to this report.
