“Yes,” Giacomo said.

He said a lot of people knew, and he blamed himself and the school.

“I had free rein — they (Hilldale officials) never really checked up on me,” Giacomo said.

Hilldale attorney Karen Long asked the judge to dismiss the case after the plaintiffs rested.

Long argued before the judge that the plaintiffs had not proven Hilldale officials were negligent.

A male student testified he told then Assistant High School Principal Darren Riddle about Giacomo in May 2006. The male said a female band student was lying barefoot on Giacomo’s bed in a St. Louis hotel during an April 2006 band trip. The male student testified he told Riddle that Giacomo was a pedophile.

Hilldale School officials confirmed the Department of Human Services was never notified of the male student’s complaint, as state law requires.

“DHS is going to laugh you right off the phone if you call to report two people are in a room — that does not constitute abuse,” Long told U.S. District Judge James H. Payne.

She argued the May 2006 complaint was not legal notice to the school.

Giacomo testified Thursday that Riddle never asked him in May 2006 if he was a pedophile — if he had sex with the student or if he had molested her. Riddle didn’t ask for the female student’s name.

Riddle said in court Tuesday he did not investigate because the boy later said he was lying, which the boy denied in testimony Thursday.

Giacomo testified the 14-year-old wouldn’t have been raped from May into November 2006 had the May complaint been investigated properly.

After that first complaint, he took the 14-year-old to a band camp in Weatherford as part of a school event.

Giacomo testified the 15-year-old probably never would have been molested if the May complaint had been investigated.

Long argued the school trusted Giacomo because there was nothing in his record for them not to trust him.