Principal's husband accused of raping 18-year-old school employee

ASHBURNHAM, Mass. - A substitute custodian at an Ashburnham school was arrested for allegedly raping an 18-year-old school employee.

The man, 64-year-old James McGrath is married to Briggs Elementary School Principal Andrea McGrath and had worked as an on-call custodian since 2008.

There were allegedly one or more incidents inside the school at some point, Ashburnham Police said.

McGrath was arrested Wednesday and arraigned in court Thursday, and faces four charges of indecent assault and battery on a person 14 or over, four charges of assault and battery and two charges of rape.

In a statement released Saturday, Ashburnham/Westminster Schools Superintendent Gary Mazzola said the custodian was immediately removed from any further employment in the district after the allegations.

"The recent allegations against this substitute custodian are both disturbing and unacceptable," Mazzola wrote. "While he was never a regular employee, he was immediately removed from any further employment with the regional school district as soon as we learned of the allegations against him. The event in question also occurred when students and staff were not present in the school building. During his work history as a substitute custodian for the District, there were never any reports of any possible wrong-doing."

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Mazzola gave his condolences to the 18-year-old involved, and said he is "hopeful for the victim and her family in her healing and recovery from this tragic event."

Cox Media Group