Sexual assault charges were dropped against Larry Chen, a former Brookline teacher, on Wednesday, a day after his trial was scheduled to start.
The Norfolk County District Attorney’s Office wrote in a court filing that they would no longer seek Chen’s prosecution after the victim, a former student, requested not to be compelled to testify. The trial was scheduled to begin on Tuesday, according to court records.
“We felt very strongly about Mr. Chen’s innocence and the defense we were prepared to present,” his attorney, Daniel Gaudet, said on Thursday. “We are very grateful for the outcome. Mr. Chen is looking forward to moving on with his life.”
Prosecutors explained in the ‘Nolle Prosequi’ filing that the victim still maintained her previous statements to investigators were true.
“The District Attorney’s Office is willing and ready to go forward with this matter,” the filing states. “Without the victim’s testimony, however, the Norfolk District Attorney’s Office is unable to proceed.”
MassLive contacted the district attorney’s office for comment, but there was no immediate reply.
Authorities had accused the former Brookline teacher of sexually assaulting a student for a period of two years, with many of the assaults reportedly taking place in a classroom when the student was 12, MassLive previously reported.
Chen was employed by The Public Schools of Brookline from 2013 through his resignation in 2018, according to the Brookline Police Department.
Prosecutors dropped eight charges, most of them rape-related.
Chen was arrested in April 2022 after Brookline police received a report of a sexual assault. Police issued a warrant for his arrest. He had a tutoring business called School Beyond School LLC at the time.
A “pre-suit claim” was sent to the Brookline school district by the victim, according to a school committee agenda for Sept. 18.
The committee met in executive session “to discuss litigation strategy in relation to a pre-suit claim asserted by the minor victim of sexual abuse perpetrated by former Hayes School … teacher, Larry Chen.”