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Regional Report: Los Angeles County School Negligent Supervision & Sexual Abuse Allegations

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More children attend school in Los Angeles County than in any other county in California. According to data released from publicschoolreview.com, there are 2,261 public schools in Los Angeles County, serving 1,556,482 students.  Additionally, there are 1,343 private schools in the county, serving 177,7760 students. Estey Bomberger reviews and monitors news stories and reports of crime and lawsuits involving public and private schools throughout the country. The following reports are for schools located in Los Angeles County, CA. If your child has been sexually abused or negligently supervised and you would like more information about your options or rights in a civil suit, contact us for a free consultation by filling out the form at the bottom of this page.

  • arroyohighschoolARROYO HIGH SCHOOL (EL MONTE)
    4921 Cedar Ave, El Monte, CA 91732
    Richard Paul Daniels, 55, a teacher at Arroyo High School, was arrested September 2, 2015, and charged with having a sexual relationship with a student. News Source: CBS Local
  • BENJAMIN FRANKLIN HIGH SCHOOL (HIGHLAND PARK)
    820 North Avenue 54, Los Angeles, CA 90042
    Peter Christopher Gomez, 47, a drama and history teacher at Benjamin Franklin High School, was arrested in February 2014 for incidents that allegedly happened in 1999. He was charged with 26 felony counts, including multiple counts of sexual molestation, sodomy of a person under 16 and oral copulation of a person under 16, according to the L.A. District Attorney’s office. News Source: NBC Los Angeles
  • CANYON VIEW SCHOOL / McKINLEY CHILDREN’S CENTER (SAN DIMAS)
    762 West Cypress Street, San Dimas, CA 91773
    Mandy Morales, 31, was arrested June 10, 2013, on suspicion of unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor. Authorities became aware of the relationship in December 2012 but waited to take legal action until DNA tests confirmed the victim was the father of Morales’ child. In January 2014, Morales was sentenced to a year in jail and three years’ probation, and ordered to attend sex offender counseling and parenting classes. News Source: Los Cerritos News, NBC Los Angeles
  • CENTER STREET SCHOOL (EL SEGUNDO)
    700 Center Street, El Segundo, CA 90245
    Jeffrey Simonek, 27, a Fifgth Grade elementary school teacher at Center Street School, was arrested in October 2012 and booked on suspicion of lewd acts with a child under 14 years of age. He was released after two days when investigators declined to file charges, and arrested November 26, following a grand jury indictment, and charged with 20 counts of lewd acts upon a child under 14 years old. Detectives reportedly began investigating Simonek in August 2012 following an anonymous tip that two boys had been sexually assaulted inside his Center Street classroom. News Source: NBC Los Angeles, Daily Breeze
  • COLUMBIA ELEMENTARY SCHOOL (EL MONTE)
    3400 California Ave, El Monte, CA 91731
    Jeff Ha, 42, a teacher at Columbia Elementary School, was arrested April 17, 2015 and charged with exhibiting harmful matter in the presence of a minor. He was suspected of showing pornographic images to a small group of children in a classroom.The students were around 12 years old, according to police. News Source: ABC 7, My Fox LA
  • ESTEBAN TORRES HIGH SCHOOL (EAST LOS ANGELES)
    4211 East Dozier Street, Los Angeles, CA 90063
    Jonathan Adam Roldan, 23, a girls’ junior varsity volleyball coach and campus aide, was arrested December 13, 2013 on suspicion of having sex with a 15-year-old female student and for allegedly touching a second 15-year-old female student inappropriately. In June 2014, Roldan was ordered to serve three years in state prison and register as a sex offender for life. News Source: NBC Los Angeles, KTLA
  • GEORGE DE LA TORRE JR ELEMENTARY SCHOOL (WILMINGTON)
    500 Island Ave, Wilmington, CA 90744
    Robert Pimentel, 57, a fourth grade teacher at George De La Torre Jr. Elementary School, was arrested in January 2013 and charged with 15 felony counts of abuse involving 20 female students and one adult, a female teacher who claimed that Pimentel inappropriately touched her. In June 2014, he reached a negotiated plea deal and pleaded no contest to molesting three students and a female relative. He was sentenced to 12 years in prison. News Source: Long Beach Press Telegram
  • GERMAIN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL (CHATSWORTH)
    20730 Germain Street, Chatsworth, CA 91311
    Paul Adame, 37, a janitor at Germain Elementary School in Chatsworth, was arrested in February 2012, on suspicion of committing lewd acts on a child. At the time of his arrest, Adama had previous arrests for grand theft auto, burglary and other alleged offenses and has a misdemeanor conviction for driving a vehicle without the owner’s permission. News Source: NBC Los Angeles, Northridge-Chatsworth Patch
  • GRATTS ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
    309 South Lucas Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90017
    Jorge, Luis Dominguez, 25, a temporary teacher’s aide at Gratt’s Elementary School, was arrested in May 2012 on suspicion of inappropriate behavior involving a child. In July 2013, he was sentenced to 14 years and eight months in state prison, and required to register as a sex offender for life. News Source: NBC Los Angeles, CBS News
  • HIGHLAND HIGH SCHOOL (PALMDALE)
    39055 25th St W, Palmdale, CA 93551
    Aaron Alvidrez, 28, a teacher at Highland High School, was arrested in October 2014 and charged with multiple felony counts of committing sodomy on a minor, oral copulation on a minor and meeting a minor for the purposed of committing a lewd act. Alvidrez was suspected of molesting a 17-year-old student with special needs at Palmdale High School. The acts allegedly took place in a classroom at Highland High School and inside the teacher’s car. Alvidrez was a long-term substitute teacher at the school and that the victim was enrolled in a special-needs program there. If convicted, Alvidrez faces a possible maximum sentence of eight years in state prison. News Source: Antelope Valley Times, CBS Los Angeles
  • LOS ALTOS HIGH SCHOOL (HACIENDA HEIGHTS)
    15325 Los Robles Ave, Hacienda Heights, CA 91745
    David Park, 37, a chemistry and biology teacher at Los Altos High School, was arrested in February 2015 in connection with an alleged sexual relationship with a 15-year-old female student. Park allegedly committed inappropriate acts with the girl in a classroom, after class and at his home between September and November 2014. News Source: KTLA
  • MIRAMONTE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL (FLORENCE / SOUTH LOS ANGELES)
    1400 E 68th St, Los Angeles, CA 90001
    In December 2010, authorities began investigating Mark Berndt, 61, after authorities found dozens of questionable photographs of children. He was suspended from his position in February 2011, and the LAUSD notified him that they needed to fire him. He objected, and the LAUSD reached a settlement with Berndt in June of 2011, and agreed to pay him almost $24,000 in back pay and $16,000 in legal fees, while still allowing him his pension and retirement health benefits. He was arrested at his Torrance apartment on January 31, 2012, and charged with 23 counts of lewd conduct with children ages 6 to 10 years old, which included taking pictures of students who were being spoon-fed his semen. In November 2013, Berndt plead no contest, avoiding a trial, and was sentenced to 25 years in prison. In November 2014, a civil settlement was reached, paying $139 million to more than 70 victims. News Source: NBC Los Angeles
  • NOTRE DAME ACADEMY
    2911 Overland Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90064
    Elizabeth “Beth” Brewer, 39, a teacher at the all-girls Notre Dame Academy, was arrested in October 2014 and charged with several felony charges involving sexual assault of one of her students between 2005 and 2007. In December 2014, she plead not guilty to three counts of sexual penetration by foreign object two counts of oral copulation and one count of forcible oral copulation. She faces up to 21 years in state prison if convicted as charged. News Source; LA Times, KTLA News
  • ROOSEVELT HIGH SCHOOL (MONTEBELLO)
    456 S Mathews St, Los Angeles, CA 90033
    Gabriela Cortez, 42, a Spanish teacher at Roosevelt High School, was arrested in February 2012 on suspicion of having sex with two of her students. The investigation of Cortez began on Feb. 15, when authorities were contacted “by a victim of an alleged sexual relationship involving him and a teacher.” The alleged victim was one of Cortez’ students at the time of the supposed interaction, but was an adult at the time of reporting. The investigation triggered by the first accusations led to a second victim who provided information regarding a sexual relationship involving him and the suspect. In December 2012, Cortez plead guilty to six felony counts of unlawful sexual intercourse. She was sentenced in January 2013 to five years probation and barred from Teaching. News Source: CBS News, Baldwin Park Patch
  • QUEEN ANNE PLACE ELEMENTARY (MID-WILSHIRE DISTRICT)
    1212 Queen Anne Place, Los Angeles, CA 90019
    Forest Miles Stobbe, 41, of North Hollywood, a fifth-grade teacher at Queen Anne Place Elementary School was arrested on August 4, 2009 following an investigation by the LAPD’s Sexually Exploited Child Unit involving allegations that Stobbe began molesting the boy in October 2008 and continued to abuse him through the following July. He pleaded no contest in September 2011 to two counts of a lewd act on a child and an amended count of continuous sexual abuse of a child under 14. He was sentenced in October 2011 to 16 years in prison. In December 2012, a jury awarded the victim $6.9 million. News Source: LA Times
  • ROSEWOOD ELEMENTARY SCHOOL (WEST LOS ANGELES)
    503 North Croft Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90048
    Thelmo Garcia, 37, a fourth-grade teacher at Rosewood Elementary School was arrested on March 11, 2015, on suspicion of child abuse. He was charged with one count of child abuse after allegedly placing a bag over a 10-year-old girl’s head on February 5, 2015. He removed the bag after several seconds. Garcia was first employed with the district in 1999 and became a teacher at Rosewood in 2011.If convicted, he faces up to six years in state prison. News Source: NBC Los Angeles, ABC 7
  • SOUTH HILLS HIGH SCHOOL (WEST COVINA)
    645 S Barranca St, West Covina, CA 91791
    Michelle Lippert, 38, and Michelle Ghirelli, 30, were arrested in January 2015 and each charged charged on February 4, 2015 with one misdemeanor count of contributing to the delinquency of a minor. Lippert, a teacher at South Hills High School, sent a group text to five male students and Michelle Ghirelli, a school district employee, inviting them to a camping trip at San Clemente Beach from December 27 and 29. Both Lippert and Ghirelli are accused of providing alcohol to the students. Initially, investigators believed the two women engaged in sexual relations with two students. News Source: ABC 7
  • telfairelementaryTELFAIR ELEMENTARY SCHOOL (PACOIMA)
    10975 Telfair Avenue, Pacoima, CA 91331
    Paul Chapel, 50, of Chatsworth, a third-grade teacher at Telfair Elementary School, was arrested October 8, 2011, and charged with 16 criminal acts including “continuous sexual abuse” against three girls and one boy, spanning more than 30 weeks between September 13, 2010 and April 15, 2011. He was sentenced to 25 years in prison in September 2012. News Source: NBC Los Angeles, Los Angeles Times
  • vannuyshighschoolVAN NUYS HIGH SCHOOL (VAN NUYS)
    6535 Cedros Avenue, Van Nuys, CA 91411
    Iusmen Iusmen, 59, a math teacher at Van Nuys High School, was arrested in June 2008 after he allegedly kissed a 17-year-old student and made sexually explicit statements to her. He was charged with one misdemeanor count of child annoying. News Source: LA Times