A former administrator for a Rhode Island school district pleaded not guilty Thursday to forcibly giving a foot massage to an underage boy.
Olayinka Alege, 40, was charged with simple assault in connection to the alleged incident that took place at a gym in Warwick. His attorney, Joseph Solomon, petitioned the judge not to read off the facts of the case during his appearance in court, but they were read anyway.
Alege “inappropriately touched a juvenile by taking his shoe off and proceeding to massage his foot,” a prosecutor said, according to footage obtained by WPRI.
The 40-year-old resigned from his post Wednesday as network superintendent of secondary schools in the Providence district per the request of Rhode Island Education Commissioner Angelica Infante-Green.
The executive has a history of foot-related accusations.
In 2009, when he served as an assistant principal in a Tampa, Florida, school, administrators received at least five accusations from boys that he cracked their toes as punishment. Superintendent Harrison Peters, who worked with him in the Sunshine State, said he was unaware of the behavior.
“When I had gotten to Tampa, it was nearly 10 years prior to that,” Peters said. “He had a stellar reputation, even when I got to Providence, and I called back and did a reference check. He had gotten glowing recommendations, great performance evaluations.”
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In “hindsight,” it was a bad idea to hire Alege, Infante-Green said, adding that she was also not apprised of his alleged past conduct.
“Hindsight is 20/20. I did not know about the allegations at the time,” she said. “Here we are, could we have made a better choice? Probably.”
