The calls to the women came in the middle of the night. The man on the other line breathed heavily. In blunt language, he repeatedly invoked oral sex. It turned out he was allegedly their school’s principal.
Such is the sordid tale that unfolded Thursday in court files made available at the state courthouse on Elm Street.
(Advisory: This article contains graphic language from police reports, in order to convey the gravity of what the victims allegedly experienced.)
The files — containing arrest warrant affidavits — describe how a New Haven school principal allegedly made more than 1,000 nighttime phone calls repeatedly sexually harassing six different women.
Three of the women were teachers at the school he previously ran as principal. One other worked as a clerk at the school. A fifth was a school parent. The sixth he met a mosque.
Police Wednesday arrested the alleged caller, Kevin Muhammad, and charged him with harassment in the second degree. Muhammad, who’s 38, appeared in court Wednesday. His case was continued. He was released on bond.
Det. Wendy Barrett led the investigation. Det. Cindy Shaw also played a key role. Barrett used Comcast phone records to allegedly tie the long trail of threatening calls to Muhammad’s phone. One victim reported receiving more than 1,000 threatening calls from Muhammad. Barrett discovered the five other alleged victims by noticing bunches of calls made at similar times to their numbers.
NHPD
Muhammad.
Muhammad served as principal of Wexler-Grant School from 2008 – 2010. This year he was transferred to Cooperative Arts & Humanities High School as an assistant principal; school officials said he hadn’t performed up to expectations at Wexler and he needed mentoring.
The school system has put Muhammad on administrative leave for two reasons, according to Chief Administrative Officer Will Clark: Because of the police charges. And because of a separate ongoing Department of Children and Families (DCF) investigation into allegations that Muhammad had made “inappropriate comments” to a female student. Muhammad had been suspended for a month earlier this school year amid a DCF probe into whether he mistreated a male student while breaking up a fight, according to Clark; DCF cleared Muhammad in that investigation. Clark said the school system learned of the police investigation in November and immediately removed Muhammad from the school
Muhammad couldn’t be reached Thursday at the phone number contained in the police reports.
He denied wrongdoing when he submitted to a voluntary interview with detectives last month, according to police reports.
“I have never harassed any women and no one has ever told me to stop calling,” the reports quote him as saying.
“He stated he is married but has had ‘relationships’ outside of his marriage. Upon asking him to describe his ‘relationships’ he stated” that they involved the women who have complained.
“Again when asked if he ever harassed anyone during the night he again stated, ‘I have never harassed any women and no one has ever told me to stop calling,’” the detective’s police report continued. “Muhammad stated, however, [that] if I tell him a number to stop calling he will. Muhammad stated that he was going to get a lawyer because he never harassed anyone. The interview ended.”
“I Could Fuck You All Night”
The six women interviewed in the reports told a much different story. All declared that they had “never” (their word) engaged in any sexual or romantic relationships with Muhammad. All described terrifying months of being awoken by heavy breathing and lewd, threatening talk that they only eventually linked to him.
One woman — let’s call her Jane — first told police about receiving the harassing calls in October of 2008.
“An unknown male” calling from a blocked/restricted number, she said, was “breathing heavily into her phone and mak[ing] comments such as, ‘I want to eat your pussy.’ “I want to eat your poom poom.’”
The woman had worked at Wexler Grant as a clerk under Muhammad. She said the calls began shortly after she was laid off.
“I want to eat your pussy! Sweet Pussy!” she quoted him saying. “I could fuck you all night! I know you could deep throat! Touch that wet fucking cunt! I want you to suck my dick!”
The calls continued, four to five times a week, she reported. At one point the caller addressed her by her name and cited conversations they had had at work at Wexler. He told her he “missed her at the front desk.”
She said she asked him to stop — which he would for months, then resume months later.
“She would hang up and he would continue calling,” according to the police report. “At one point she put her boyfriend on the phone with Muhammad and told him they reported him to the Board of Education. Muhammad gave a gasp and hung up the phone.” Only, according to the complaint, to resume months later.
Three other women telling similar stories were Wexler-Grant teachers.
A fifth told of meeting Muhammad in Bridgeport.
“I asked [her] if she knows Kevin Muhammad,” one of the police reports reads. “She started to cry and told me that her mother … is a devout Muslim and Muhammad goes to the same Mosque in Bridgeport as her mother. …
“Math was always her weakest subject. She learned that prior to Muhammad becoming a principal of a school he taught math. Approximately two years ago her grandmother died. Muhammad attended the funeral. A conversation ensued in which she asked if he could tutor her in math.”
The woman gave Muhammad her cell number, according to the report; he said he was “too busy to tutor her.” Then, allegedly, “the harassing phone calls started.
A sixth complainant works at Yale-New Haven Hospital and had a son at Wexler when Muhammad served as principal. She said he first called her to report that her son had been “acting up” in school. He requested a meeting. She, too, reported receiving a stream of anonymous threatening sexual calls after that.
The woman “stated she has been scared to leave her house because of the phone calls,” the police wrote. She did not know if someone was outside waiting for her and was afraid of being raped.”
Wait a minute..He doesn't perform up to expectations at Wexler so u give him a job in another school???!!! R u kidding me??!! Like giving a crack addict a job in a pharmacy!