Former Tabor teacher charged with raping former student

MARION -- A former English teacher at Tabor Academy has been arraigned on 12 charges of rape after allegedly abusing a student over a three-year period.

Nannie Clough was arraigned Aug. 17 in Brockton Superior Court on the rape charges and one count of intimidating a witness.

She pleaded not guilty to all charges and was released without bail. She was ordered to have no contact with the alleged victim and to surrender her passport.

The female  victim was “sexually exploited’’ starting at age 15, according to her attorney Kristen Knuuttila. Clough “groomed our client, opening her home to her and gaining her trust,’’ the attorney said.

The abuse lasted from 1996 to 1999, Knuuttila said.

The abuse continued even after the girl left Tabor, Knuuttila said. Clough threatened to kill herself, the attorney said, if the girl ever told anyone.

“The most insidious part of the abuse was the fact that Clough took our client into her fold and became like a surrogate mother, Knuuttila said. “She gained our client’s trust and then brutally abused and betrayed her.’’

A request for comment from Clough’s attorney was not immediately returned.