A 64-year-old former teacher once dubbed “Mr. Wonderful” at an elite Massachusetts girls’ school pleaded not guilty Wednesday to three rape counts connected to two former students.
Matthew Rutledge appeared in Berkshire Superior Court in Pittsfield after being indicted in March on allegations brought by Melissa Fares, 33, and Hilary Simon, 39, according to Fox News Digital. Both women alleged Rutledge abused them during their time at Miss Hall’s School, a private boarding institution, between 2000 and 2010.
Simon alleged she was 15 when Rutledge first targeted her for grooming and abused her for years. “I fought this privately for 20 years,” she said in a statement, according to Fox News Digital. “I have been fighting it publicly for two.” (RELATED: Judge Sentences Man To Castration, Lets Him Decide Between Two Options)
The two women said they connected in 2024 after discovering they shared similar accounts of alleged abuse and jointly sought criminal charges, Fox News Digital reported. The Berkshire District Attorney’s Office (BDAO) initially turned them away that October, citing the state’s age of consent at 16, according to the women.
Former Miss Hall’s School teacher Matthew Rutledge is slated for arraignment for allegedly raping students when he taught at the private boarding school in Pittsfield, records show. https://t.co/HcNL1yxZ8y
— The Boston Globe (@BostonGlobe) April 22, 2026
“While the alleged behavior is profoundly troubling, it is not illegal,” DA Timothy Shugrue said, according to an October 2024 statement from the BDAO.
However, the investigation moved forward after prosecutors used a 2025 report by Aleta Law, a firm the school’s board of trustees had hired to investigate the culture at the institution, according to the Boston Globe. That review, built on school records and 158 interviews, alleged that school leadership permitted Rutledge to sexually abuse at least five students across two decades and did not appropriately intervene.
The school launched the probe after Fares and Simon made their allegations against Rutledge public and faulted the institution for failing to protect them, the outlet reported.
“Miss Hall’s School knew,” Fares alleged to reporters after the arraignment, according to Fox News Digital. “This whole school knew. They enabled a culture of abuse for decades.”
The school told the outlet it is cooperating with authorities. “We are sorry for the harm that survivors have experienced and the impact on our community,” the statement read.
The BDAO has not released additional details regarding the evidence in the case but said the investigation of Rutledge “as well as any suspected criminal conduct of staff members at Miss Hall’s school is ongoing,” NBC News reported.