TORRINGTON — A lawsuit filed by “John Doe” against the town of Salisbury is the first to demand compensation for the alleged years-long pattern of sexual assaults by Arthur Wilkinson, the town’s former recreation director.
The Aug. 21 lawsuit filed by attorney Alina Habba of Bedminster, N.J., claims Wilkinson assaulted the plaintiff, now 41, from 1991-94 when the boy was in the seventh grade.
Wilkinson, now 79, retired in 2005 after 39 years in the position. He is accused of “repeatedly exposing his genitals to the plaintiff and masturbating in front of the plaintiff,” the lawsuit states. The abuse escalated to physical contact at Salisbury’s Town Grove, where Wilkinson had an office; on the docks at Lakeville Lake; in Wilkinson’s car and on the baseball fields at Salisbury Central School, the lawsuit alleges.