PITTSFIELD — A man who allegedly sexually assaulted girls at a school for youth with severe psychiatric and behavioral challenges appears poised to enter a plea deal in the case.
Douglas Agyeh, 44, of Pittsfield, was recently transported back to Massachusetts after trying to cross the Canadian border in January 2023 — just days before his trial was set to begin in Berkshire Superior Court.
He was arrested by the Canada Border Services Agency and extradited back to the United States, where court records show he was detained in Plattsburgh, N.Y.
It wasn't until last month when Agyeh "was finally brought back to the commonwealth," his defense lawyer, Jill Sheldon, told Judge Francis Flannery at a hearing on Wednesday.
Agyeh is accused of assaulting a 15-year-old girl about eight or nine times in August and September 2021 while working at Brookside Intensive Treatment Unit in Great Barrington, according to police. The girl reported that Agyeh also watched her in the shower.
A second girl, also 15, said Agyeh sexually assaulted her on June 12, 2021, in the school's laundry room. She said he picked up her underwear and complimented it before grabbing the underwear she was wearing, touching her through her garment, according to the Montreal Gazette. The publication reported that Agyeh is a citizen of Ghana.
Several of the incidents were captured on surveillance footage, which was viewed by employees at the center. That sparked an internal investigation and an investigation by local police. Brookside officials said Agyeh's employment was suspended after the footage surfaced.
Brookside, run by Pittsfield-based Hillcrest Educational Centers Inc., serves female students between the ages of 6 to 18 who have severe behavioral and psychiatric challenges.
Agyeh was indicted by a Berkshire County grand jury in December 2021 on 23 felony charges, including nine counts of rape of child with force.
He pleaded not guilty and was released on his own recognizance, with conditions that he refrain from contacting his accusers, stay away from his former workplace and have no unsupervised contact with children under 18. He was also ordered to surrender his passport.
Back in custody in the Berkshires, he is now being held in lieu of $250,000 cash bail, according to court documents.
Sheldon, his attorney, on Wednesday requested the court schedule a hearing at which Agyeh will change his plea, and indicated that she has reached an agreement with prosecutors on a plea deal. That hearing was set for May 15.