A woman has been charged with sexually assaulting a student at a South Coast preparatory school while she was a teacher there in the 1990s, officials said.
Nannie Clough, 57, faces 12 felony counts of rape and one count of witness intimidation, according to records filed in Plymouth Superior Court.
Clough, who currently lives in Denver, was a teacher at Tabor Academy, a prep school on Buzzards Bay in Marion known for its marine science programs, when the alleged offenses occurred, according to Beth Stone, a spokesperson for the Plymouth district attorney’s office.
The alleged abuse began when the student was 15 and continued for three years, from 1996 to 1999, Stone said.
Clough was a member of the school’s English department, the Standard-Times reported in 1998.
The alleged abuse continued after the student, a teenage girl, graduated from Tabor, according to her attorney, Kristin Knuuttila. At one point, Clough threatened to kill herself if the student ever told anyone about the abuse, Knuuttila said.
The former student came forward with the accusations as an adult, which prompted an investigation from local and state police, Stone said.
Clough pleaded not guilty to the charges on Monday. She was released on personal recognizance and ordered to surrender her passport and to stay away from and not contact the alleged victim.
Max Stern, an attorney for Clough, said his client “has denied all allegations and expects to be fully vindicated.”
Eric MacLeish, also an attorney for the former student, said Friday the case was “significant” because most people accused of sexual crimes are male.
“What this case teaches us is that [predators] can come in all kinds of sizes and shapes, including women, men, young, old,” he said. “The common denominator is people that gain trust and then abuse that trust.”
In a statement on Friday, Tabor Academy said it did not have “any additional information to share” on the allegations against Clough, but encouraged anyone with information about alleged misconduct to come forward “so that we can promptly take appropriate action.”
The school pointed to a 2022 report that detailed findings of sexual abuse over the previous two decades. The report did not identify any Tabor employees by name, but said that more than a dozen former faculty members had been banned from campus and reported to local authorities after being accused of sexual misconduct with students.
None of the misconduct detailed in the report, however, involves a female faculty member in the late 1990s.
“Our school expressed its deepest apologies that these members of our community experienced any type of misconduct or abuse,” the school said Friday. “Tabor also advised its community that the school completed additional work to ensure a safe living and learning environment for all members of the community.”
Camilo Fonseca can be reached at camilo.fonseca@globe.com. Follow him on X @fonseca_esq and on Instagram @camilo_fonseca.reports.