SALEM — A former Georgetown High School football coach and health care executive was sent to state prison for three years yesterday after pleading guilty to repeatedly sexually abusing a young female relative.
John "Jack" Donovan Jr., 61, of 18 Dix Road, Ipswich, pleaded guilty to child rape, unnatural acts with a child, and indecent assault and battery on a child during a hearing yesterday afternoon in Salem Superior Court, where his victim, now nearly 18, tearfully asked for an apology.
Donovan did not apologize.
Donovan was the head football coach at Georgetown High School and a vice president for finance at a health care company when he was charged in 2003.
The girl, then 13, told a friend, and then her mother, that Donovan had been molesting her for three years but that she had been afraid to tell, prosecutor Jessica Connors said.
The girl's mother later acknowledged to a Department of Social Services investigator that she confronted Donovan about the allegations and that he responded by telling her that the girl "was a sexual being" who would jump into his lap for a kiss.
When Judge Howard Whitehead asked Donovan if that were true, Donovan did not answer. His lawyer, Elliot Weinstein, told the judge Donovan could not speak to statements made by the girl's mother.
The judge asked a different question: "Did you do the things Ms. Connors said you did?"
"I did," Donovan answered.
The victim told Whitehead that yesterday's sentencing hearing made her feel like "a huge weight has been lifted from my shoulders."
She went on to tell the judge she now realizes what is important in life, saying, "I'm a lot better off than other kids my age because I've learned life lessons they won't learn for years."
As for the relatives who sided with Donovan, "I want them to see that punishing me for speaking up was not right," she said, crying.
Whitehead called the case "a tragedy" and said he could have imposed a longer prison term but had taken into account concerns about the victim's ability to handle a trial, which had been scheduled and postponed several times.
Donovan was fired as Georgetown High's varsity football coach in October 2003 after his arrest on the charges. He had served as head coach since 1996.
The case, one of the oldest open criminal cases on the Salem Superior Court docket, took more than four years to get to yesterday's hearing, largely because of legal wrangling over access to the girl's counseling records by the defense lawyer, who said during earlier hearings that the records would raise questions about the girl's credibility.
After he completes his prison term on the rape charge, Donovan will be on probation for two years on the indecent assault and unnatural acts charges. During that time, he will be required to take part in sex offender and alcohol treatment, stay away from the victim, and wear a GPS, as well as register as a sex offender.
