GREENFIELD — An Ashfield man and former teacher was sentenced Wednesday morning to three years’ probation after changing his plea on charges related the 2017 inappropriate touching of his friends’ daughters.

Douglas J. Forbes, 53, pleaded guilty in Franklin County Superior Court to two counts of indecent assault and battery on a child 14 or older, two counts of indecent assault and battery on a child under 14, one count of indecent exposure, and one count of annoying and accosting a person of the opposite sex.

Forbes must register as a sex offender, complete sex offender treatment, have no contact with the alleged victims, have no unsupervised contact with children under 16 that are not his biological or legally adopted children, avoid working in settings in which contact with minors is reasonably expected, and stay away from Greenfield and Mohawk Trail Regional high schools and the victims’ residences.

Assistant District Attorney Anne Yereniuk, the prosecutor, read Judge Richard Carey the facts of the case. On the stand, Forbes told Carey he did not dispute any statement made by Yereniuk, who also read an impact statement written by one of the three victims, who were all previously known to him.

The statement mentioned the impact this experience has had on her and her family, stating that she “can’t even take one breath without remembering the past.” The victim wrote her family’s friendships made her feel as if she was “on top of the world” and like her life was complete. Still, she mentioned, she knows she was right to talk to her parents about what happened.

Attorney David Hoose, who was representing Forbes, said this experience was “a huge loss for everyone involved” and his client acknowledges his wrongdoings.

“He’s the one that lost sight of boundaries,” Hoose told Carey. “It is not these girls’ fault.”

Hoose mentioned Forbes was born and raised in New Hampshire and lived in Charlemont when the alleged incidents occurred. Forbes now lives separately from his wife, in Ashfield. 

Hoose said his client can no longer be employed as an educator, and now works clearing brush and doing other manual labor for a private landowner. He used this fact to argue against the commonwealth’s request that Forbes be required to wear a GPS monitoring device, stating it was unfeasible and unnecessary.

Carey rejected the commonwealth’s GPS request.

Hoose did not return a phone call for comment Wednesday afternoon.

Forbes was the subject of a story in the Greenfield Recorder in 2016 when he was a teacher and the coach of a hiking team at The Academy at Charlemont.

Reach Domenic Poli at: dpoli@recorder.com or
413-772-0261, ext. 262.

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