WORCESTER – A Worcester woman who alleges that a former Worcester Public Schools official and school committee member sexually abused her when she was under 12 years old, appears in a video released on Thursday, Oct. 16, asking Worcester voters to reject two candidates for municipal office who she says protected the man who allegedly abused her.
In 2023, Heather Prunier, of Worcester, publicly acknowledged for the first time that she was the girl who reported being sexually abused by former Worcester School Committee member and school principal John Monfredo in 1997.
Prunier says she endured sexual abuse over a three-year period, between 1991 and 1994, when she was between nine and 12 years old. In 1997, she reported the crimes to police and identified the abuser as her softball coach, John Monfredo, then the principal of Belmont Street Community School, a grammar school in Worcester.
She told her story to Bill Shaner in a series of interviews that resulted in this article published in October 2023.
In the video released Thursday, Prunier asks voters to reject both school committee member for reelection Maureen Binienda and first-time city council candidate Rob Pezzella. Both have included safety issues as a large part of their campaign messaging.
A website that includes the video also provides a timeline of events from 1997 to the present, and several sources supporting the video.
“It’s disgusting that these two claim to prioritize safety,” Prunier told This Week in Worcester. “Throwing kids out of school while protecting this man and enabling his access to more potential victims isn’t safety. It is irresponsible and dangerous.”
Then-Worcester County District Attorney John Conte, a longtime friend of both then-Mayor Ray Mariano and Monfredo, declined to prosecute the case.
Monfredo later won election to the Worcester School Committee, where he served eight two-year terms before declining to run for a ninth time. His last term ended in 2021.
Binienda stood for election to the Worcester School Committe weeks after the article identifying Prunier was published.
Despite Prunier’s depictions of the abuse says she endured by Monfredo, Binienda continued to include him in her campaign.
When asked about the article, Binienda described it as “very political.”
DA Conte and the Catholic Priest Abuse Scandal
Conte served for 30 years as Worcester County District Attorney, the longest tenure in state history. Conte also faced significant criticism for his actions against those accused during the Archdiocese of Worcester Catholic priest abuse scandal. He secured six guilty pleas and no convictions at trial in a scandal that included dozens of allegations the archdiocese determined were credible.
In 2002, an assistant district attorney working for Conte recommended the release of Rev. Robert Kelley on personal recognizance, which requires no bail posted for release. Kelley faced charges of child rape in connection with the assault of a child under seven years old. Kelley previously served six years in prison after pleading guilty in March 1990 to charges of assault with intent to rape, two counts of unnatural rape of a child and indecent assault and battery on a child.
Kelley pleaded guilty to four counts of unnatural rape of a child and two counts of rape of a child in 2023, which led to a second prison term.
While investigating the priest scandal, Conte also faced criticism for donating to the diocesan Bishop’s Fund.
Mariano and Monfredo
Conte, Mariano, and Monfredo not only share the same faith, but were also all active within the local Catholic community in Worcester. The three also shared long-time friendships.
When Mariano won election as mayor for the first time in 1993, Monfredo actively supported the campaign.
In January 1997, the Worcester Public Schools placed Monfredo on leave pending the criminal investigation and the school district’s own investigation in response to Prunier’s claims of abuse. Soon after the investigation began, the Telegram and Gazette reported on Monfredo’s suspension.
With the investigation ongoing, then-Mayor Ray Mariano provided comments to the Telegram supportive of Monfredo, including expressing a high level of trust in him, including with his own daughter.
The same article quotes Monfredo saying he was never alone with the girl who filed the complaint. He maintains the same position today, which Maureen Binienda has repeated many times to several people.
During Mariano’s tenure as mayor, his two-person support staff consisted of Rob Pezzella, a current candidate for city council, and Diana Biancheria, a current school committee member aligned with Binienda on most issues.
Binienda and Pezzella
During her tenure as superintendent, Binienda retained Pezzella as safety director of Worcester Public Schools. The pair suspended or expelled an extreme number of students from schools. A report by the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Economic Justice in 2022 found that Worcester accounted for 60 percent of all emergency removals of students from schools across the state during the 2016-2017 school year, Binienda’s first as superintendent.
In 2019, Binienda faced criticism for the high number of out-of-school suspensions and expulsions and the severity of disciplinary measures. After the controversy, the rate of suspensions suddenly dropped over the next two years.
In her first term as a member of the school committee, Binienda frequently criticized then-Superintendent Rachel Monnarez for the massive decline in the rate of kids being forced out of school. Monnarez consistently advocated for kids to be in school rather than suspended.
Binienda maintains a close personal relationship with Monfredo. During a yard sale held at Monfredo’s home in early July 2025, an attendee told This Week in Worcester that Binienda was present and seen freely accessing the Monfredo home.
Monfredo supports both Binienda and Pezzella in the municipal election this year, and participated in campaign activities for both.
Binienda Correspondence with Therapist
In 2018, Prunier sought treatment from a licensed therapist to mitigate symptoms of post-traumatic stress and trauma, which many survivors of child sexual abuse experience. After hearing Prunier’s story of abuse, the therapist, a Worcester resident, emailed then-Superintendent Binienda expressing concern that Monfredo continues attending school-related events with children present despite Prunier’s accusations.
The therapist did not identify Prunier in the email, but referred to a patient who says Monfredo abused her as a child.
More than a month later, Binienda replied, saying she would take no action without the patient coming forward and meeting with her. She expressed concern about harming Monfredo’s reputation, but said nothing of the potential harm to children in a school system under her leadership.
In 2018, Prunier began attending school committee meetings, while Monfredo remained a member within it.
“I spent much of my life terrified of running into this man,” Prunier told This Week in Worcester. “Attending meetings served as a form of exposure therapy for me.”
As This Week in Worcester previously reported, after Prunier began attending school committee meetings, Binienda requested banning Prunier from those meetings, because her presence made Monfredo upset.
Binienda’s request to violate the law and ban Prunier was denied.
In 2021, Heather participated in a vigil before a Worcester school committee meeting intended to encourage Binienda’s administration to take rape culture within the school system, and the victims it produces, seriously.
In 2024,Prunier told the Worcester School Committee that Pezzella confronted the group soon after their arrival and told them, “I don’t want you here.”
See Prunier’s statement to the school committee, below.
