PLAISTOW — A Timberlane Regional School District official only contacted David Russell’s former employers after his recent arrest for assaulting a 15-year-old girl in his math class — not during the hiring process — new police documents explain.

Human Resources Director Dana O’Gara told investigators it was then she learned he was let go from two nearby school districts for inappropriate touching.

The Nashua School District reported, “Russell was let go due to touching young female students and thinking it was OK to give them therapeutic massages.”

North Andover schools “also let him go for touching,” the police report reads. He taught there for 23 years.

North Andover Superintendent Gregg Gillian said Russell was hired in 1993 and taught health for a year, then science until 1996, math from 1996 to 2009, and physical education from 2009 to 2016.

Gilligan told The Eagle-Tribune that Russell “retired in August of 2016.”

Records show that Russell let his Massachusetts teaching license expire before becoming licensed to teach in New Hampshire in 2019.

The Timberlane human resources director told police, “for his background, they did not call his previous employers but only his references and did his fingerprints.”

It’s likely that neither action was enough to bring to light police reports mentioning Russell filed in New Hampshire and Massachusetts.

Plaistow police Detective Kyle Coakley said he recently contacted the departments that had jurisdiction where Russell taught.

A North Andover police dispatcher explained that Russell had “serious allegations there and would need a supervisor to authorize this information to be sent.”

Coakley eventually learned that on April 7, 2010, it was reported that Russell “gyrated” and humped a student.

“This turned into a report being made by numerous students to the North Andover Police Department of Russell looking down their shirts, cleavage area, and trying to look up their skirts,” Coakley’s report reads.

The case was closed April 9, 2010 — without criminal charges, according to records.

Coakley’s report explains, “This is due to numerous statements from students regarding the incident but most of the ‘creepy’ things which made students uncomfortable were not criminal but was conduct unbecoming.”

Another report, from 2016, says that a girl reported to her parents, police and principal that Russell followed her to a bathroom and told her to “keep doing your jumping jacks while you do your business.”

She said she could see through the bathroom stall that he was at the bathroom entrance holding the door open.

No criminal charges were brought then, either, making the Plaistow arrest Russell’s first.

An affidavit explains that a 15-year-old Timberlane girl asked for a pass to use the bathroom when he ran a hand down her back and left it on her buttock area. She also claims that Russell bumped into her and grabbed her hips the same day.

As part of his investigation, Coakley said he asked the Timberlane HR department for the names of any parent who has come forward with complaints against Russell.

He was given two names, he said, and was also able to connect with students about their experiences.

One student suggested that investigators reach out to a girl who was told by Russell that she should stay after school “to do stuff with him to get her grades up.”

Coakley’s report notes that on Dec. 10 — five days before Russell was formally arrested — he heard from an investigator with the New Hampshire Department of Education, who said an attorney contacted him on behalf of Russell.

“His office was informed that (Russell) would be interested in resigning and giving up his N.H. Education Certification,” Coakley reported. “The reason given for this was so that it would be in lieu of charges or being placed on a sexual offender list.”

Coakley said he was unable to get in touch with Russell.

A different attorney informed police that Russell was his client and he “is not talking to the police” without more information.

An arraignment is scheduled for Jan. 31 in 10th Circuit Court in Salem.

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