The alleged sexual abuse of three Rosemead Excessive College college students between their freshmen and senior years by a trio of coaches and lecturers is on the coronary heart of a negligence lawsuit filed in opposition to the educators and their employer, the El Monte Union Excessive College College District.
The plaintiffs, who’re recognized within the lawsuit simply by the initials CH, DC and JL, attended Rosemead Excessive between 2005 and 2011. They’re now 31 to 33 years previous.
“That is concerning the misdeeds of coaches and lecturers and a few tradition of protecting up these misdeeds by the directors all through the district for years,” mentioned Luis Carrillo, the plaintiffs’ legal professional.
The plaintiffs’ names have been excluded from the courtroom information as a result of they have been minors on the time of the occasions. Along with the varsity district, the lawsuit names former Rosemead Excessive tennis coach Wing Chan, former trainer Alex Rai and former cross-country coach Eduardo Escobar as defendants.
The lawsuit, which was filed Could 6 in L.A. County Superior Court docket in Pomona, accuses all three of illegal childhood sexual assault, abuse, harassment, and quite a lot of sorts of misconduct.
Not one of the three may very well be reached for remark. Nor did El Monte Union Supt. Edward Zuniga or Assistant Supt. of Human Assets Robin Torres reply to requests for remark.
The lawsuit alleges that Rai started grooming CH in her junior and senior years of highschool, between 2008 and 2009. It additionally accuses him of sending specific images of himself to her and touching her a number of occasions in a sexual method.
DC was 14 and 15 in 2008 and 2009 when her alleged abuse started as a member of the cross-county staff that Escobar coached. The lawsuit accuses Escobar of flattening DC’s shorts and touching her in a sexual method whereas ostensibly serving to her alleviate a leg cramp.
DC reported the abuse to Rai, who in flip knowledgeable the varsity administration. Directors carried out an investigation, however didn’t report the kid abuse to police, in line with the lawsuit.
The lawsuit accuses Rai of groping DC whereas on campus till her commencement in 2011, then having sexual relations with DC at his dwelling the yr after she graduated.
JL’s sexual harassment started her freshman yr and was perpetrated by Chan, in line with the lawsuit. Along with grooming JL, the lawsuit accuses Chan of getting intercourse along with her whereas she was a minor.
The lawsuit alleges that “it was so well-known on campus that Chan would have intercourse with JL that the majority college students and college knew of the connection however did nothing to cease it or forestall the abuse.” The lewd acts passed off between 2005 and 2009, in line with the lawsuit.
All three plaintiffs have talked about lowered shallowness, anxiousness, melancholy, emotions of helplessness, problem sleeping and flashbacks because the alleged abuse.
“They’re survivors however they’re nonetheless in restoration,” Carrillo mentioned. “When a toddler will get traumatized at a younger age, that may usually result in lifelong penalties.”
The lawsuit claims that the district “ought to have identified the perpetrators had engaged in illegal sexually-related conduct with minors.” It additional says the district had an obligation to tell dad and mom of the abuse, however personnel “negligently and/or deliberately suppressed, hid or did not disclose the data.”
The district, Carrillo mentioned, was full of “directors turning a blind eye.”
To help its allegations concerning the environment on the faculty, the lawsuit cites “The Predator’s Playground” by Enterprise Insider journalist Matt Drange, a Rosemead Excessive College alumnus. Revealed on Oct. 3, the 89-page report documented instances of abuse at Rosemead Excessive way back to the Eighties involving 20 educators, and sometimes leading to minimal punishment.
“This case and the uncovering of all of this isn’t doable with out Matt Drange,” Carrillo mentioned. “We’re wanting ahead to our day in courtroom.”
