Merzbacher, John

John Merzbacher was a lay teacher in the Baltimore City public schools and then at the Catholic Community Middle School in Locust Point. In 1993, a woman reported that Merzbacher sexually abused her from 1972 to 1975 when she was in grades six through eight at Catholic Community Middle School. The abuse consisted of violent rape and molestation. In one instance, he fired a gun over students’ heads in the classroom. Many reported that Sister Eileen Weisman, the principal, ignored consistent reports of abuse because she was complicit in them.

Since then, several survivors have reported dozens of instances of forced rape, violent acts, and molestation with various objects. Merzbacher would force students to rape other girls while he watched, and he threatened to murder anyone that reported the abuse. In 1995, Merzbacher was sentenced to four life terms in prison plus an additional ten years. Civil cases were dismissed in the late 1990s due to the statute of limitations, which has now been opened to allow for litigation. Merzbacher died in prison in May 2023.