Avenal Teacher Christopher Nugent Sex Abuse Arrest
Avenal teacher Christopher Nugent, a one time a teacher of the year at Avenal Elementary, was arrested in January and charged with sexually molesting several of his students.
After receiving a complaint from a student, Avenal Elementary School officials notified police. According to the complaint, Nugent had allegedly touched students in an inappropriate manner. One student had even requested that a hidden camera be installed in Nugent’s classroom in order to catch the instructor in the act, but the student’s request was denied. A brief investigation concluded with Nugent’s arrest.
Police obtained a search warrant and, alongside a representative of the Kings County District Attorney’s Office, entered Nugent’s home in Atascadero and conducted a search, seizing a laptop computer as evidence.
The police did not state the exact number of students Nugent is suspected of molesting.
Sex Abuse in Schools
The Christopher Nugent case is the second recent child molestation incident to take place within the Reef-Sunset Unified School District, to which Avenal Elementary belongs. Seventy-year-old Curt Meyer, formerly an instructor at Reef-Sunset Middle School, was accused of touching several female students in an inappropriate manner. Meyer was arrested in November of 2015 and charged with felony child molestation.
The Centers for Disease Control conducted a survey of adverse childhood experiences between 1995 and 1997 and uncovered some disturbing trends. Of the 9,367 women surveyed, a staggering 24.7% reported that they had been sexually abused as minors. Sixteen percent of the 7,970 men surveyed also reported having experienced sexual abuse as children. In all, 20.7% of respondents, male or female, had been abused as minors. Commonly, the abuse occurred at the hands of an adult—usually a coach or teacher at school. Said abuse didn’t necessarily include touch: exhibitionism, sex-related talk, masturbation, and showing the student pornography are also forms of child sex abuse.
The Law Firm of Estey Bomberger Can Help
San Diego-based law firm Estey Bomberger has a proven track record of successfully representing school teacher sex abuse victims, routinely obtaining record-setting settlements and verdicts.
Estey Bomberger is currently handling a civil case involving several women who were allegedly sexually assaulted by nurse practitioner Jeff Sabino in Avenal.
Attorney Steven Estey has been involved in numerous sexual abuse cases. He has committed himself to battling childhood sex abuse both in and out of the courtroom, obtaining for his clients and their families the financial resources they need to battle their trauma and anguish.
If you or a loved one has been victimized by a teacher in the Reef-Sunset Unified School District or any other school in California, you should seek restitution from your abuser and the institution which enabled him or her. Contact the willing and able attorneys at Estey Bomberger for a confidential and completely free legal consultation.