A Pownal man who worked as a teacher at a Massachusetts private school is being held without bail on allegations he sexually assaulted a student over a five-month period. He is asking the court to release him on bail while awaiting trial.
Peter Hirzel, 60, is charged in Vermont state court with repeated aggravated sexual assault of a child. He denies the allegations.
Hirzel is accused of sexually assaulting a teenage girl at his house in Pownal on multiple occasions between Aug. 1, 2021, and Jan. 7, according to court documents.
Police said he met the student at Pine Cobble School in Williamstown, Massachusetts, where he’d been her math teacher from sixth to eighth grade. The student and her mother reportedly had visited Hirzel’s new home, and he’d also visited their residence where they sat on the front porch and talked.
The student told investigators Hirzel had given her the opportunity to help paint his house. The mom, who told police she believed Hirzel was a “positive support person” for her child, sometimes took the student to Hirzel’s house.
Eventually, Hirzel would pick up the student and bring her to his home, according to Bennington Police Det. Anthony Silvestro’s statement of probable cause for the charge.
The student told investigators Hirzel began inappropriately touching her sometime between April and May of last year. The student “stated they would have sex almost every time she would go over to his house” between August and the beginning of January, Silvestro wrote.
The student told police she and Hirzel would communicate through text messages, video calls and the social media applications Snapchat and Instagram. She also said he bought her marijuana with her money, the affidavit reads.
The student first disclosed the incidents to a therapist during the first week of January. The therapist, in turn, contacted law enforcement.
On Jan. 26, members of the Bennington Police Department executed a search warrant on Hirzel’s house. Several items that the student had described to police were found and taken as evidence, Silvestro said.
That same day, Hirzel pleaded not guilty in Bennington Superior criminal court to the sexual assault charge, which is punishable by 25 years to life in prison. He has since been held at Marble Valley Correctional Facility in Rutland.
On Thursday, he reappeared via video link before Judge Cortland Corsones to ask for release on a combined $150,000 bail and conditions, and to offer supporting testimony.
His sister, Susanne Digby, said Hirzel had been aware of the complaint against him around mid-January, when she last visited him in Pownal. Digby said Hirzel was troubled and returned to Pennsylvania with her, at her invitation, but only stayed for three days.
His lawyer, David Silver, pointed to the trip as evidence that Hirzel wouldn’t try to evade prosecution. “He knew about this investigation and made no attempt to flee despite having the means to do so,” Silver told the judge. “He came back to face this situation.”
The defense attorney said Hirzel hired him on Jan. 14, nearly two weeks before he was charged with a crime.
Prosecutors, on the other hand, want Hirzel to remain in jail while his case is ongoing. Bennington County Deputy State’s Attorney Alex Burke said that when Hirzel went to Pennsylvania, he did not know what charge he’d be facing. He now knows it comes with a potential life sentence, which increases the risk of flight from prosecution.
Hirzel’s ex-wife, Frances Moore, also testified she hadn’t heard any allegations of Hirzel’s acting inappropriately toward minors or students. She said they were married for 22 years and have a son and daughter together.
A former architect and graphic designer, Hirzel had been teaching for around 17 years, Moore said. His previous employers include the Los Angeles Unified School District and New Roads School, a private K-12 school in Santa Monica, California.
The evidence in the case supports the view that the sexual assault allegations are an “isolated episode” in Hirzel’s life, his attorney said. Hirzel apparently has no criminal record.
To ensure public safety and that Hirzel would show up in court if released from jail, Silver proposed several conditions. These include round-the-clock home detention, unannounced police searches and payment of $100,000 cash or surety bond.
The court has ordered Hirzel not to contact the student complainant or her mother. In support of the order, Silver suggested a $50,000 cash or surety “peace bond,” which Hirzel would forfeit should he break the order or have contact with children younger than 16.
Corsones said he would consider the prosecution and defense arguments before issuing a written decision.
When asked about the peace bond, Burke said in an email that the courts don’t frequently use it and that the case law is unclear on the scope of what it can do.
Meanwhile, the head of Pine Cobble, Sue Wells, said Hirzel’s employment at the school ended in mid-March of last year. The school conducts background checks of all incoming employees, she said.
Wells didn’t respond to questions of when Hirzel started teaching at the school and if the administration had earlier received complaints of Hirzel’s behaving inappropriately toward students.
“Due to the ongoing criminal case, Pine Cobble is referring all questions to law enforcement officials,” she said in an email. “We are devastated by this news and our hearts are broken for the victim.”
Pine Cobble School, which opened in 1937, teaches students three years old through eighth grade. Its students come from western Massachusetts, southern Vermont and eastern New York, according to its website, with 148 students enrolled in the 2019-20 school year.
Read the story on VTDigger here: Pownal man who taught at private school charged with sexually assaulting student.