A former foreign exchange student at Bishop Brady High School is seeking civil damages from the school and the nonprofit that placed her with her host family, alleging neither organization did enough to prevent a sexual assault, according to a lawsuit filed in superior court last Monday.
The 20-year-old student from Spain was 16 at the time of the assault, which took place in her hosts, John and Roberta Woods’, Hopkinton home.
John Woods was convicted of aggravated felonious sexual assault, among other charges, in October of 2024 and is currently an inmate at New Hampshire State Prison. He and his wife, Roberta, are also named as parties in the complaint.
The lawsuit argues that Bishop Brady and Cultural Homestay International, the agency that placed her with the family, “did not take the steps they represented to the public that they do to ensure a safe environment.”
The agency stated it vetted its host families, offered orientation before placing students and conducted check-ins at least once a month, according to the complaint. Bishop Brady also said it was committed to doing background checks on host families and reviewing the home environments regularly.
Despite these claims, the organizations failed to identify that John Woods had a criminal record and Roberta Woods had been regularly absent from the home and was believed to be living in California since 2018, according to the complaint. Bishop Brady and the placement agency also represented to the U.S. State Department that it interviewed all family members during the vetting process, which was not the case.
“Bishop Brady and CHI instead served [her] up to a home she believed had a husband and wife living in it — John and Roberta Woods — but which, in fact, housed only John Woods, an elderly predator with a criminal record,” the complaint reads. “In other words, ‘the fox was guarding the hen house.’”
The student was in the 11th grade during her stay in the Woods’ home.
On March 4, 2022, after watching a movie together, Woods drugged the student with Ambien and sexually assaulted her. The next day, after finding herself in different clothes than the night before, the student called another exchange student whose host family helped her get to the Concord Hospital emergency department, according to an affidavit.
A male student also lived at the home, and both had a number of absences in their time at Bishop Brady. During two trips to Boston and Florida prior to the assault, Woods attempted to sleep in the same hotel room bed as the female student, according to the complaint.
Woods was convicted of aggravated felonious sexual assault, felonious sexual assault and endangering welfare of a child last year and sentenced to a minimum of 10 years in state prison.
The lawsuit laid out multiple claims against the placement agency, including negligent hiring, fraud and breach of fiduciary duty. It accuses Bishop Brady and Roberta Woods of negligence, and John Woods of sexual assault. The complaint seeks compensatory damages, punitive damages and attorney’s fees.
The Monitor does not name victims of sexual assault unless they come forward publicly.