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The University System of New Hampshire and Plymouth State University settled for $350,000 with an associate professor emeritus and mental health counselor who publicly defended a child rapist, the Union Leader reported. Plymouth State said last year that it would not rehire the former professor, Nancy Strapko, as an adjunct instructor or “in any other capacity.” Strapko previously asked a state court for leniency for Kristie Torbick, a Plymouth State alumna and former high school guidance counselor prior to Torbick's sentencing for sexually assaulting one of her students. Strapko testified on Torbick’s behalf and in a letter to the court referred to the 14-year-old victim as the “truly the pursuer in this case.”
The settlement, to avoid a potential lawsuit, was obtained by the Union Leader via an open records request. Attorneys for both the university and Strapko said in a joint statement that the involved “parties abhor all forms of interpersonal exploitation, in particular the sexual abuse of children. They also agree on the importance of witnesses participating in the criminal justice process, including criminal sentencing.”
