Ann Arbor — A defamation lawsuit brought by the headmaster of an Ann Arbor private school accuses a Washtenaw County website publisher of writing an article two years ago that “recklessly and maliciously” portrayed the educator “as a pedophilic child sexual abuser running amok among the public.”
Patricia Lesko, owner of the Ann Arbor Independent site, reported in an Oct. 28, 2024 story that Peter Fayroian, head of school at the Greenhills School in Ann Arbor, had been accused of sexually abusing his preteen daughter, who at the time was enrolled in the school that has students from grades 6-12.
The accusation, which surfaced during a child custody battle between Fayroian and his ex-wife, was investigated by Ann Arbor Police before Washtenaw County prosecutors declined to bring charges, according to a police report obtained by The Detroit News.
Fayroian’s attorneys said Lesko’s article was intentionally misleading, which is why the lawsuit seeks punitive damages of more than $25,000. Lesko argued she’s a journalist who informed the public about sex abuse allegations against a top school official that weren’t reported to parents until after her story ran.
The rancor over Lesko’s article raises questions about the role of journalists when reporting on potentially embarrassing accusations made in public filings, and whether parents have a right to know if educators are accused of crimes while they’re under investigation.
As part of the lawsuit that is scheduled for a July trial in Washtenaw County Circuit Court, Fayroian also wants Lesko to disclose who tipped her off about the sex abuse allegations against him. The tipster on May 13 filed a motion with the court seeking a “protective order prohibiting discovery into identity of a confidential journalistic source,” according to the court’s website. A hearing is scheduled for July 15 before Washtenaw County Circuit Judge Julia Owdziej.
Lesko said the lawsuit is meant to intimidate her.
“I’m an independent journalist; I’m not USA Today or the Atlantic Monthly,” said Lesko, whose work has been recognized by the Society of Professional Journalists’ Detroit chapter.
“(Fayroian) wants me to spend money on legal fees. He’s trying to punish me for writing the article and not taking it down.”
According to the 47-page lawsuit, “The … article … recklessly and maliciously portrays the Plaintiff as a pedophilic child sexual abuser running amok amongst the public. The claims in the Article are horrid for any person to deal with. The harm to (Fayroian) is magnified when one considers that (he) is a lifelong educator tasked with the safety, protection, and guidance of the communities’ children. The harm — both personally and professionally — caused by (Lesko’s) reckless and defamatory postings is tremendous.”
Legal fight ensues about the identity of the tipster who knew the accusations
Lesko said the attempts to force her to disclose her source violate journalistic privilege. Fayroian’s Ann Arbor lawyer, Andrew Bossory, said the demand was made to show whether Lesko took proper precautions to vet the tip she’d received.
“One of the issues is what the Ann Arbor Independent did to investigate these claims before the article was published,” Bossory said. “The specific steps (Lesko) took before publishing was requested. That was objected to, and the court referred the matter to be looked into by a special discovery mediator, who recommended that the discovery be presented. That was recently adopted as an order of the court.”
Brian Wassom, the attorney who represents the whistleblower, said it’s important to keep media tipsters anonymous.
“People need to feel they can provide information to reporters anonymously without their identities being exposed,” Wassom said. “That’s integral to our democracy; freedom of the press is enshrined in the Constitution.”
Lesko said the tipster who told her Fayroian was being accused of sexual assault is immaterial.
“That was the initial tip, but I didn’t base my story on that tip — I based it on the court documents I pulled after getting the tip,” Lesko said. “This is just another attempt at intimidation.”
Michigan Press Association Public Policy Manager Lisa McGraw said court records are fair game for reporters “unless the judge seals them.”
“If a reporter got a tip and then verified it by looking at court records, it seems to me the reporter is double-sourcing and being meticulous at that point,” she said.
Regarding attempts to out Lesko’s tipster, McGraw said: “There’s a reason why whistleblowers want to stay anonymous; someone who worked under (Fayroian) could’ve been the one who tipped (Lesko) off, and they could get fired. The whole thing sounds messy.”
Parents not informed of sex abuse allegations against headmaster
Fayroian’s lawsuit accused Lesko of publishing misleading information when she wrote that Judge Tracy Van den Bergh had “stripped long-time Greenhills Head of School Peter Fayroian of his parental rights.”
“This is false and defamatory,” the lawsuit said. “The August 20, 2024 ex parte order suspended the Plaintiff’s parenting time. The ex parte order in no way ‘stripped’ the Plaintiff of his parental rights. During the pendency of the ex parte order’s operative effect, the Plaintiff retained his joint legal custody.”
Van den Bergh later restored the father’s visiting rights, according to the lawsuit.
Lesko said prior to her story’s publication, officials at Greenhills School did not inform parents that Fayroian had been placed on administrative leave during the investigation.
“I think (Fayroian) is trying to stymie reporting about him that is in the public interest,” Lesko told The Detroit News. “His daughter was a student at the school, and the board hid the allegations for months. They didn’t send out any communication to parents until after my story ran.”
Greenhills officials did not return a phone call and email seeking comment, although according to a letter the school board sent to parents a day after the story ran, which Lesko published in a subsequent story, school officials treated the issue as a personal matter.
“Although this article is new, the allegations are not and the Board has continued to closely monitor the matter since its inception,” said the Oct. 29, 2024, letter from school board chair Neda Ryan. “The allegations in the article are not the first of its kind that have been lodged against Peter in the midst of his divorce and child custody proceedings. These allegations have been unsubstantiated and no charges have ever been filed against him.
“When the most recent series of allegations were first made in a court filing in August (2024), Peter immediately notified the Board,” Ryan’s letter said. “While the Board worked closely with outside counsel and pending the outcome of the investigation by Child Protective Services (CPS) and the Ann Arbor Police Department (AAPD), Peter went on administrative leave.
“When CPS closed its investigation, it concluded the allegations were denied and AAPD declined the charges and closed the case,” Ryan’s letter said. “It was at this time that the Board agreed to lift Peter’s administrative leave and have him return to school. Since that time, the Board considered this a personal matter between Peter, his children, and his ex-wife.”
Attempts to stop the story before it ran fail
Prior to the story’s publication, school attorneys sent Lesko a cease-and-desist letter, warning she could be sued if she ran the article. Hours before the article went online, Fayroian’s attorneys also asked Washtenaw County Circuit Judge Tracy Van Den Bergh for a preliminary injunction barring Lesko from publishing the article, an action known as “prior restraint.”
The judge denied the request, along with two subsequent requests to stop the article’s publication.
The U.S. Supreme Court in 1976 ruled that “prior restraints on speech and publication are the most serious and the least tolerable infringement on First Amendment rights. … The damage can be particularly great when the prior restraint falls upon the communication of news and commentary on current events. Truthful reports of public judicial proceedings have been afforded special protection against subsequent punishment.”
But Fayroian’s attorney said Lesko’s article wasn’t truthful.
“I can think of very few things that are more harmful to a person’s reputation than being falsely accused of sexually abusing a child,” said Bossory, who does not represent Fayroian in the custody case. “Unfortunately, these kinds of claims are often made in high-conflict child custody cases to try to get an advantage … and the article said several things that aren’t true.
“The Ann Arbor police did an investigation (into the sex abuse allegations), and the Washtenaw County Prosecutor’s Office declined to charge my client,” Bossory said. “One of the big points of the lawsuit is the defendant published that the Ann Arbor Police found the abuse allegations credible. That was patently untrue; the police report makes no finding of the credibility of the witness.”
In her article, Lesko wrote: “According to the AAPD report, the detective, based in part on a forensic interview, found the victim’s statements credible enough to send the CSC 2nd Degree -Forcible Contact, 3806 – Neglect Child charge to the Prosecutor.”
The lawsuit said the claim is misleading.
“First and foremost, the AAPD does not have the authority to charge,” the lawsuit said. “That is a discretionary decision made by the prosecuting attorney. In this case, the prosecuting attorney denied charges.”
Lesko said she stands behind her reporting.
“Second, the APPD did not make a request for the issuance of charges. As indicated by the investigating detective, at the conclusion of the investigation, the case was submitted to the prosecutor’s office with a warrant request ‘as is policy for any and all criminal reports.’ In other words, the AAPD made no determinations, suggestions, or requests regarding the outcome of the case.”
“I wrote that the police found the claims credible enough to ask for charges,” she said. “That’s 100% accurate.”
The sex abuse allegations were made by Fayroian’s ex-wife, Rachael Waring. Phone calls to the attorneys involved in the child custody case involving Waring and Fayroian were not returned.
After the allegation was made, the case was sent to the Ann Arbor police. Officer Eric Hutchinn interviewed the daughter, Waring and Fayroian. Fayroian denied the accusations, according to the police report.
The officer also interviewed co-parenting therapist Carrie Rosenbloom, who told police she consulted and took on the daughter as a client for more than a year before being fired by Waring, according to the Ann Arbor police report.
“CARRIE said there was no disclosure that gave her indication of any abuse or neglect happening,” according to the police report, and added that “she was worried about RACHEL’s escalating contempt of PETER” because “this behavior was confusing the children.”
Hutchinn “submitted the case to the Washtenaw County Prosecutor’s Office for review,” and Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Laura Willenbring denied charges because the office is “unable to prove elements of a crime beyond a reasonable doubt,” the report said.
What judge said about denying a request to seal the custody case file
A month after Lesko’s article was published, Fayroian’s attorneys asked Judge Van Den Bergh to seal the divorce file.
In denying the motion, the judge pointed out that after the sex abuse allegations surfaced, Fayroian submitted 38 letters of reference from people who included “teachers and counselors at his daughter’s school, where Plaintiff is principal and over whom he arguably has supervisory powers, a local state representative, University of Michigan physicians, professors and department heads, neighbors, a former federal prosecutor, and others … even though such letters are inadmissible hearsay.
“Plaintiff now raises privacy concerns after discussing this case and soliciting letters from 38 individuals,” the judge wrote. “It strikes this Court that the Plaintiff did not have the same qualms when he discussed this case with 38 people, including teachers at his daughter’s school, and various members of the community where his daughter resides while soliciting letters of support.
“Further, given the recent publication of a news story in the Ann Arbor Independent and Plaintiff’s position and employment as principal of Greenhills schools, there is a public interest in a case which includes an allegation of sexual abuse against a minor child,” the judge wrote. “While the Court notes these allegations have not been substantiated by Child Protective Services and Plaintiff has not been criminally charged at this time, the public still has an interest in the investigation and determination of these claims in the domestic matter.”
In January 2025, the domestic case was one of several cases that were reassigned to Washtenaw County Circuit Court Judge Jinan Hamood in an effort to lighten judges’ workloads, according to an order by Washtenaw County Trial Court Chief Judge Patrick Conlin.
Fayroian’s domestic court case was closed in February, according to court records. A jury trial in the lawsuit has been scheduled for July 6 before Washtenaw County Circuit Judge Julia Owdziej.
Lesko said she will continue to refuse Fayroian’s calls to take down the story.
“(The article) is still up there, and it’s one of the most-read stories on the site, she said. “I wrote it because it was in the public’s interest. Now, they want to punish me for telling the truth.”
ghunter@detroitnews.com
(313) 222-2134
@GeorgeHunter_DN
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Child sex abuse claims prompt defamation suit against Ann Arbor website
Reporting by George Hunter, The Detroit News / The Detroit News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
