• Charity fraud probe led to Narragansett Regional High School teacher arrest

• By George Barnes
  Telegram & Gazette Staff

  
  Posted Aug. 22, 2016 at 4:12 PM
  Updated Aug 22, 2016 at 5:23 PM
  
  

  GARDNER - An investigation into charity fraud led police to arrest a Narragansett Regional High School teacher on sexual charges involving a student, according to district court documents.

  Matthew W. Kacavich, 33, of 3 Astrid Ave., Worcester, a Western civilization teacher at the high school in Templeton, was arrested Friday after a two-week investigation that started with police looking into allegations of charity fraud.

  When Templeton Police Officer Brian Rosengren, school resource officer at Narragansett Regional High School, met with Superintendent Christopher Casavant to talk about possible fraud involving Mr. Kacavich, he was told the teacher had a relationship with a former student who was now in college. Mr. Casavant told Officer Rosengren that when the woman broke off her relationship with the teacher, he told her he had stomach cancer and was going to Ohio to buy a gun and to Canada to purchase arsenic. He said Mr. Kacavich also attempted to locate the woman's new boyfriend at his home in Gardner. That was before the end of the school year in June.

  After learning of Mr. Kacavich's statement that he was suffering from cancer, Mr. Casavant told police that students, faculty and their families responded by holding a fundraiser, including the sale of wristbands, to support the allegedly ill teacher.

  After meeting with the former student, police learned the teacher had a relationship with a current student who is 17 years old. The student, who was a high school junior when she became involved with the teacher, said the relationship began when he started texting her. On the student's phone, police found a message history that included increasingly sexual messages between the teacher and student, and naked photographs they sent each other.

  Mr. Kacavich was arraigned Friday in Winchendon District Court in Gardner on charges of disseminating obscene matter to a minor and trafficking of a person under age 18 for sexual servitude. He was released on $2,500 cash bail and is scheduled to return to court Sept. 16 for a pretrial conference.

  Mr. Kacavich was the valedictorian of the class of 2000 at Worcester Technical High School. He has been placed on administrative leave by the Narragansett Regional School District pending the outcome of the police investigation.

  In a letter to the school community, Mr. Casavant said Mr. Kacavich will have no contact with any student in the district, and will not be allowed on Narragansett Regional School District property. He said his administration is developing a support plan for when students and staff return to school. Parents will be advised when it is ready to be put in place, he said.