When David Mulcahy was investigated for inappropriately touching a student in 2019, the middle school teacher's boss expressed optimism that some additional training courses on professional conduct would help him avoid future trouble.
"It is my hope that this is an isolated incident," wrote Matthew Morgan, who was then the superintendent of the Grant County School District in Northern Kentucky.
Students, parents and Mulcahy's daughter say it was not.
An Enquirer review of court filings, police records, student statements and internal school documents found that Mulcahy, 42, faced new misconduct accusations in 2023 from three students at Turkey Foot Middle School in Kenton County.
Those claims led to a Kentucky Department of Education investigation,
a civil lawsuit filed by the parents of one of the girls and Mulcahy's firing from his job as a social studies teacher. Mulcahy denied the accusations in a statement to The Enquirer, as well as in court documents and statements to school officials.
"I was a new teacher, learning how to draw boundaries," Mulcahy said. "I never meant for anything to be misconstrued or interpreted in a negative way. I didn’t intend for any contact to be construed as inappropriate or sexual as that would never be my motive."
The claims against Mulcahy have remained mostly out of public view for the past several years, but that changed Aug. 14 when his daughter, Ireland Mulcahy, referred to the students' accusations in a long Facebook post critical of her father's conduct at home and in the classroom.
She accused him of being emotionally and verbally abusive toward her and of behaving "sexually inappropriately" around her.
"I can attest from my personal experience as his daughter, growing up in his house, he should not be around children or young women," she wrote.
In an interview with The Enquirer, Ireland Mulcahy said she decided to write the post after seeing young girls on TikTok praising The Hidden Chapter Bookstore in Fort Thomas, which her father owns with his wife. She said she wanted to warn girls about her own experience and the allegations he faced as a middle school teacher.
David Mulcahy, in his statement, denied his daughter's claims and said her Facebook post was "slanderous and defamatory." He described her as a difficult child, which required him to be "strict," but he said he never acted inappropriately toward her.
A hug and a 'possible inappropriate touch'
The first accusation against Mulcahy was made in 2019. A Grant County Middle School student said she witnessed him hugging a female student and rubbing her buttocks during a class change, according to a police report.
The police report, written by school resource officer Robert Morgan of the Grant County Sheriff's Office, shows that the accusation prompted an internal investigation into a "possible inappropriate touch involving a student."
School officials conducted interviews with the student, other alleged eye-witnesses and Mulcahy himself, according to the deputy's report. The student who was allegedly touched denied that Mulcahy acted inappropriately, and other students said they did not see anything.
The report states that the girl said, "Nothing happened between her and [Mulcahy] because he is like a dad to her."
The deputy's report indicates he discussed the matter with his supervisor and a representative from the Cabinet for Health and Family Services and declined to pursue the matter further. The school district ordered Mulcahy to complete online training courses on professional boundaries, sexual misconduct and mandatory child abuse reporting.
In Kentucky, if school superintendents receive a report that an educator may have engaged in sexual contact with a student, they must report the incident to the state's Education Professional Standards Board, which oversees teacher certifications. It is unclear whether the conduct contained within the complaint regarding Mulcahy qualified as sexual contact. A staff attorney for the Kentucky Department of Education said that the standards board did not receive a report from Grant County regarding Mulcahy.
Matthew Morgan, who was the district superintendent at the time, retired from Grant County School District in 2023. He did not respond to The Enquirer's multiple attempts to reach him for an interview.
An April 2021 evaluation of Mulcahy's performance as a teacher concluded that he should be "Recommended for Dismissal/Non-Renewal." Grant County schools followed that recommendation and his contract was not renewed. School officials did not explain their decision in the letter they sent Mulcahy notifying him that his contract would not be renewed.
Soon after, he applied for and got a job teaching social studies with Turkey Foot Middle School in the neighboring Kenton County School District.
More allegations arise at another middle school
In January 2023, two female students at Turkey Foot told a teacher that Mulcahy inappropriately touched their buttocks while hugging them. These concerns were then relayed to Turkey Foot Middle School Principal Holly Spritzky, who has since retired. That same day, Spritzky reported the complaints to the Edgewood Police and the Cabinet for Health and Family Services.
In February 2023, Kenton County Schools Superintendent Henry Webb filed a report on the matter with the Kentucky Department of Education, according to the department's records.
Documents from the Cabinet for Health and Family Services indicate another student subsequently made a similar complaint. In total, three Turkey Foot students accused Mulcahy of inappropriately touching their hands, shoulders and backs. One student alleged that Mulcahy's hand had crept up her inner thigh, close to her private parts, according to police records.
When Edgewood Police Detective Jimmy Kreinest questioned Mulcahy about the allegations, he acknowledged hugging students but denied any inappropriate touching. "I wasn't in need of contact with anybody," Mulcahy said, according to Kreinest's report. "I was just trying to be ... a good person."
At one point in the interview, Kreinest asked if Mulcahy had read the school district's policy on proper conduct with students.
According to the detective, Mulcahy responded, "I never bothered to read that."
Other students told Kenton County Assistant Superintendent Malina Owens that Mulcahy would show favoritism to female students, hugging and buying them gifts beyond the birthday gifts all students received from him. In police interviews, Mulcahy acknowledged that he gave extra gifts to some students, regardless of gender.
When Owens interviewed Mulcahy, she said he told her that he is “better with girls, prefers girls, and thinks they are just easier,” according to records from the Kentucky Department of Education.
The Cabinet for Health and Family Services told the Kenton County School Board in April 2023 that it substantiated the allegations against Mulcahy. That same month, Mulcahy was terminated from his teaching position at Turkey Foot Middle School. Records from the Kentucky Department of Education showed that Mulcahy voluntarily gave up his teaching license.
But he appealed the agency's findings and, in March 2024, state officials reversed their decision. The letter granting Mulcahy's appeal did not explain why the original determination was overturned.
Kreinest filed his report with the Kenton County Attorney’s office. It did not pursue criminal charges.
“At the time we received the completed investigation, the available evidence was not sufficient to support criminal prosecution under the laws then in effect,” said Susan Topmiller, executive director of the Kenton County Attorney’s office.
In his statement to The Enquirer, Mulcahy said his physical contact with students never went beyond hugs and that the subsequent investigations showed he intended no harm.
"I have never abused any children in any way," he said. "I was investigated for inappropriate contact via hugs, those investigations ultimately ended with no evidence and unsubstantiated. I was never arrested or charged, because I didn’t commit a criminal offense of any kind."
Parents say they weren't told of 'potential danger'
In July 2023, Ryan Tinker, a parent of one of the Turkey Foot Middle School students who had accused Mulcahy of touching her buttocks, filed a civil lawsuit against Mulcahy, Spritzky and Webb. It said the Turkey Foot administrators should have known about concerns surrounding Mulcahy before hiring him.
Mulcahy has asked the Kenton County judge to be dismissed from the case, but the judge denied this motion in June, saying "there are remaining genuine issues of material fact" to be resolved at trial.
The Kenton County School District declined to comment. Spritzky, Webb and their lawyer, Suzanne Cassidy, could not be reached or did not respond to interview requests. A Kenton County judge dismissed Spritzky and Webb from the suit in July, according to court records. Tinker is appealing that decision.
Tinker declined to comment for this story, and his lawyer did not respond to an interview request. But in an interview with The Enquirer, Heather Tinker, the mother of the student, said that Spritzky initially downplayed the students' claims. "She said, 'This is a nonissue' and that 'We were not escalating,'" she said.
In their lawsuit, the Tinkers said Spritzky first told the parents that Mulcahy had “accidentally grazed her thigh in the hallway."
It wasn’t until their daughter came home that they found out about the incident. Tinker said her daughter was "adamant that something happened."
Three years have passed since Mulcahy left Turkey Foot Middle School, but Tinker said she and her family are still just as angry. She said the family has pursued the lawsuit to hold Mulcahy accountable and to ensure the safety of other children.
"Parents should be notified that there was a potential danger," Tinker said. "What if there were other students that are too afraid to come forward?"
Tinker's daughter, who is now 17, has since moved to a different school due to a lack of trust in the school's administration, Tinker said. Her son is still in the Kenton County School District, but her family is planning to move before he begins middle school. The primary reason? To avoid sending their son to Turkey Foot.
"There needs to be consequences for actions for this type of stuff," said Tinker. "It's how I raise my girls. It's how I raise my son. This stuff should not be happening, especially within our schools. We send our kids to school to be protected."
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Former teacher faced misconduct claims. Now he's accused by daughter
