Finally, Mass. legislators close the loophole that gave cover to sexual predators

Politics admin July 2, 2026 0 Comments

Finally, Mass. legislators close the loophole that gave cover to sexual predators

On Wednesday afternoon, at last, legislators passeda law that will give teenagers the long-overdue protection they deserve from authority figures who would abuse them.

Until now, some predators in this state have been able to hide behind our age of consent law, which states that a person over 16 can fully consent to sex. Unlike in many other states, that law contained no exception for when those in positions of trust — teachers, coaches, police officers, and others — sexually exploit 16- and 17-year-olds in their care. The law failed to take account of the immense power imbalance in those relationships. A 47-year-old teacher, for instance, could argue that, under state law, a 17-year-old entered willingly into a sexual relationship with him. Not anymore.

“I’m thinking about everything it took to get here, and how hard survivors have to fight for what should so often be obvious,” Melissa Fares said.

When Fares was a sophomore at Miss Hall’s, a private girls’ school in Pittsfield, her history teacher Matthew Rutledge allegedly began grooming her. Just after she turned 17, he began having sex with her. As a teenager, she did not see what was happening to her. As an adult, she came to understand that her high school self could not, and did not, choose to have sex with her teacher.

Under the new law, it will be a crime for an adult to have sex with a 16- or 17-year-old who is, or has previously been, under their authority — punishable by up to 20 years in prison. It draws a clear line.

“A child cannot consent to the adult who controls her grades, her college recommendations, her whole world,” said Hilary Simon, who graduated from Miss Hall’s in 2005 and was also allegedly sexually exploited by Rutledge during and after high school.

The law is finally changing in large part due to the courage of Simon and Fares. Fares, who graduated from Miss Hall’s in 2010, made the first public allegations of abuse against Rutledge in 2024. The women both alleged that Rutledge began grooming them as sophomores, offering flattering attention that grew increasingly physical, then began having sex with each of them after they turned 16.

“That was never consent,” Simon said. “It was exploitation. And now the law says so.”

Initially, Berkshire District Attorney Timothy Shugrue declined to bring charges against Rutledge, citing the fact that Fares and Simon were each over 16 when he started having sex with them.

Gutted, the women devoted themselves to convincing this state to do what 39 others already have: Close the loophole in the age of consent law. Shugrue eventually did charge Rutledge with three counts of rape, after an independent report established a pattern of exploitation by the teacher, strengthening the case against him. (He has denied wrongdoing.)

It shouldn’t have been that hard. Though they both live out of state, Fares and Simon went to Beacon Hill to give testimony and lobby legislators in the hopes of showing them what was at stake.

“Advocacy has been healing, but it’s also meant revisiting hell over and over again,” Fares said.

For Simon, the battle meant “reliving the worst thing that ever happened to me, over and over, in public, on a schedule set by legislative calendars,” she said. “I sat in rooms and made the case for why what happened to me should be a crime, which is a strange and lonely thing to have to argue. There were stretches where it took everything I had.”

Senator Joan Lovely has been pushing to change this law for years and knows all too well what it takes for survivors to fight publicly for better protections. The Salem Democrat, 67, says she was sexually abused by an uncle when she was 6 years old. He was never charged.

“My parents were told I’d forget, but that doesn’t happen for victims,” Lovely said. “Now I have this opportunity to turn that terrible experience into policy and protect other kids.” The senator called this one of the most important fights of her career. “We have finally been able to meet the moment,” she said.

On Wednesday, attorney Kristin Knuuttila, who represents Rutledge’s alleged victims and many others, said she was already hearing from many of her clients. The law was finally recognizing what they’d gone through as teens.

“I am thrilled for all of my clients who fought for this bill,” she said. “I am also relieved for Massachusetts students that the onus is no longer on them to fend off predators.”

If only this victory hadn’t cost survivors like Fares and Simon so much.

“I hope we’ve made it easier for the next person,” Fares said. “I really do.”