BALTIMORE — When the Gilman School varsity baseball coach - who had also been a scout for the Cleveland Indians, and coached Orioles legend Cal Ripken as a kid - took a special interest in Matthew Wolf, the sixth grade boy was flattered.
That feeling soon turned into fear, as the private trips to batting cages, and expensive gifts, eventually led to sexual abuse. The alleged abuse went on from 1989-1993.
Decades later, Wolf says he had to watch as his friends and school community memorialized the man who traumatized him for years.
Dr. Martin Meloy passed away in 2015. Five years after his death, it came out that the former teacher and coach had sexually abused several students in the 1990s.
These survivors reported the abuse to the school back in 2008, but the school remained silent about the abuse for another dozen years.
Now, lawyers for Wolf have filed a civil complaint, accusing the private boys' school of looking the other way at the time of the abuse, then later trying to cover it up, all while "publicly heralding Meloy as a beloved and respected former teacher and coach," the lawyers write.
According to the civil complaint, filed by the law firm Laffey, Bucci, and Kent: Beginning when he was 13, began offering to “work on” Wolf’s back, because he needed to be more “limber,” telling him he looked “tight on the diamond,” and it was impacting his baseball abilities. This eventually led to inappropriate massages, which Wolf recalls happening at least 12-15 times. Dr. Meloy was a dentist, but he told Wolf he was a medical doctor.
“These massages were for Dr. Meloy's own sexual gratification and not for any legitimate medical or therapeutic purpose,” the complaint alleges.
The first instance occurred when Dr. Meloy invited Wolf to stay overnight at his home, “ostensibly as an end-of-the-year treat,” the lawyers write. He took Wolf out to dinner and a movie, and then massaged Matt in a guest bedroom in his house, instructing the then-13 year-old to remove his underwear so he could “work on his buttocks, as well as his back and hamstrings.” During the massage, he touched Wolf’s genitals, and then told him to help himself to a bed full of gifts, including sporting goods and merchandise from his favorite teams.
The civil complaint describes the massages in further detail:
"During the massages, Dr. Meloy sometimes remained standing by the bed and other times he climbed onto the bed, breathing heavily, and straddled Matt while assaulting him. At some points during the massages, Dr. Meloy would removehis hands and step back. Matt is unaware of what Dr. Meloy was doing at those times because he continued to lay face down and did not ask any questions. Dr. Meloy was known to be an avid photographer and kept some antique cameras in the bedroom where the massages took place. Matt reasonably fears that Dr. Meloy took pictures and/or videos of him during the massages.”
This later led to Dr. Meloy requesting Wolf to return the favor, and give him massages, while Dr. Meloy was naked. When he was in ninth grade, Dr. Meloy took Wolf and another student on an overnight trip in Pennsylvania, and asked Wolf to tell the other student it was normal to get “worked on” by their coach.
The relationship continued like this throughout Wolf’s time at Gilman. Dr. Meloy tutored him in chemistry, and wrote him a college recommendation letter. Dr. Meloy also coached a recreational league baseball team, and when Wolf joined the league in 8th grade, Dr. Meloy changed levels/teams periodically so that he could remain as his coach until he graduated from high school.
Gilman sent out a letter to the school community in 2020, confirming the abuse by Dr. Meloy, stating that when the abuse was reported, he was immediately removed from his position, and his case reported to the Baltimore City State's Attorney's Office.
But lawyers say the school lied, and told faculty and parents that Beloy was taking a sabbatical for health reasons, and eventually, instead of firing him, the administration let him retire. The school newspaper even mentioned "the retirement of beloved manager Dr. Meloy" in an article in 2009, say Wolf's lawyers.
The complaint also notes how the former Athletic Director, who held that position when the allegations against Dr. Meloy were made in 2008, posted this on an online remembrance page for Dr. Meloy: "I had the great blessing of coaching with Marty for many years in several sports at Gilman. ... He was as generous and wonderful a person as I have known.”
The lawyers say, "Either Gilman did not tell its Athletic Director of the sexual abuse perpetrated by one of Gilman's long-term coaches (and thus presumably had taken no steps to educate its staff about how to recognize and/or prevent abuse by others), or this is yet another example of a Gilman official continuing to praise Dr. Meloy publicly in spite of his abuse of Gilman students.”
When the allegations were finally made public in 2020, Gilman hired a private firm to investigate the abuse, T&M Resources. The company says 13 students came forward to say they were abused by Dr. Meloy. The investigation also found that teachers, coaches, and administrators were aware that Dr. Meloy photographed minor students, and gave them gifts, but failed to recognize this as grooming behavior, according to the civil complaint.
Just this year, another former Gilman teacher, Christopher Bendann, was charged with sexually exploiting a minor.
The alleged abuse took place from 2017 to 2019. Bendann was fired from his job at Gilman in January of this year, and a month later, police raided his home in Towson.
Over the past two years, Gilman says it has taken a series of steps to prevent further abuse, including creating an anonymous reporting system, increasing staff training, and appointing a director of student safety oversight.
More information can be found here.
The school says it cannot comment on pending litigation.
Earlier this year, Wolf provided testimony to the House Judiciary Committee, in support of the Child Victims Act, which eliminates the statute of limitations for sexual abuse survivors, and took effect this month. You can read his testimony here.
Lawyers for Wolf believe there are more survivors out there. They urge them to come forward.