California AG is investigating the handling of high abuse claims in Rosemead

• California’s attorney general is investigating the El Monte Union High School District in Southern California.
• The action follows Business Insider’s reporting of a pattern of sexual misconduct at a district school, Rosemead High.
• Investigators are looking at compliance gaps related to “suspected child abuse, sexual abuse, sexual assault.”

California’s attorney general is investigating a Southern California school district to determine whether it properly handled claims of teacher sexual abuse and misconduct, according to records reviewed by the Business Insider Show.

BI was the first to obtain evidence of a pattern of abuse at Rosemead High, overseen by the El Monte Union High School District, for a series It revealed widespread complaints of sexual misconduct involving more than two dozen different educators that continued from the 1980s through last year. In several cases, employees had been alerted to inappropriate relationships between colleagues and students failed to report it to child protective services, despite being required to do so under state law.

A document reviewed by BI shows that the scope of the state investigation includes district policies regarding sexual abuse, assault and harassment, as well as its compliance with laws and regulations regarding mandatory reporting of suspected child abuse, sexual abuse, assault and harassment . and related recruitment and training requirements.” Several people familiar with the investigation, whom BI is not naming because they were instructed not to discuss it, described the investigation as focusing in part on whether Rosemead administrators responded to the properly dealt with allegations of abuse by teachers that lasted decades.

Investigating a local school district is a rare move for the top law enforcement agency in the state. The only investigation the attorney general has made public regarding teacher sexual abuse involved another Southern California district, Redlands Unified, which was completed earlier this year. when the office discovered it that the district had “systematically violated the laws protecting against and handling complaints regarding sexual assault, harassment and abuse.” Redlands agreed to a judgement in June, the district will be subject to five years of state oversight.

People familiar with the El Monte investigation say it is being led by a division of the attorney general’s office called the Bureau of Children’s Justice, which was created in 2015 when Kamala Harris was attorney general. A spokesperson for Attorney General Rob Bonta declined to comment.

BI has previously identified numerous cases in which tips from teachers, students, parents and community members led to cursory investigations by Rosemead administrators and district officials. often ends with a teacher allowed to return to the classroom – where, the data shows, New allegations of abuse emerged. Last year, Robin Torres, the district’s chief human resources officer, said in a statement about the district’s investigation into a teacher’s relationship with a student: “It appears there was no follow-up.” After reviewing district records regarding sexual harassment complaints from multiple students about another teacher, Torres said, “I expected to find additional information regarding these allegations.”

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Those familiar with the state investigation say it is in the preliminary stages and still ongoing. District Superintendent Edward Zuniga did not comment on the investigation. “The health and safety of our students is our top priority,” he said by email. “El Monte Union will not tolerate any behavior that undermines these values, and we will take swift and decisive action if we suspect student safety is being compromised in any way.”

In an Aug. 21 letter Zuniga sent to staff and the district’s board of trustees, he disclosed the attorney general’s investigation and instructed employees not to discuss the matter with anyone outside the district. The letter instructs staff to retain all documents “potentially relevant to the investigation,” including memos, emails, voicemails, diaries, text messages and minutes of meetings.

Four lawsuits and counting

In May, attorney Michael Carrillo filed a claim court case on behalf of three former Rosemead High students who allege school officials created a “toxic” culture on campus where “sexual abuse by teachers is rampant.” During a press conference announcing the lawsuit, Carrillo called on the Bureau of Children’s Justice and the U.S. Department of Education to investigate what he described as a “systemic failureto report child abuse within the district. Carrillo declined to comment.

Three other sexual abuse lawsuits by former teachers have been filed against El Monte County in recent months. In preliminary responses, the district’s attorneys dismissed most of the claims, while seeking to have other claims dismissed on procedural grounds. In the first case brought by Carrillo, attorneys for the district argued that because the abuse allegations involved three different teachers, the claims should be separated; a superior court judge ordered the plaintiffs to amend their complaint.

In a case involving district and special education teacher Edwin Reyes-Villegas, a former Rosemead student identified as Jane Doe alleges that Reyes-Villegas sexually harassed and abused her when she was 17. According to the complaint — filed by lawyers at the law firm Manly, Stewart & Finaldi, which also represented 37 claimants who filed sexual abuse claims against the County of Redlands, resulting in settlements totaling more than $45 million – the girl, who has autism, was “particularly vulnerable” to abuse by Reyes-Villegas. The complaint states that the abuse occurred during and after school and that it also involved the exchange of “sexually charged communications.”

Her attorney, Jenny Louro, said she plans to file subpoenas with the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing to see if the district has notified state authorities. Place Reyes Villegas on paid leave a year ago. Reyes Villegas did not respond to requests for comment; Records show his ID remains intact.

In another case filed by the same companya trio of former students who were training to join Rosemead High’s championship wrestling team sued the El Monte district and their former coach, Herbert Ortiznmonroy. The lawsuit alleges that Ortizmonroy repeatedly abused the boys, one of whom joined the Rosemead team, and that district administrators failed to supervise him and “enabled a culture of sexual abuse and harassment that discouraged reporting ‘. Ortizmonroy, who also went by Coach Ortiz at Rosemead, was sentenced to prison in 2013 after pleading no contest to charges of oral copulation of a minor and committing a lewd act against a child; he remains in custody and has not responded to a request for comment.

A additional case that Carrillo filed in June on behalf of nine other plaintiffs, all Jane Does, alleges that “the improper handling of allegations of sexual abuse, assault and harassment was and is a systemic problem” in El Monte County.

A former Rosemead teacher named in the case Alex Raiearlier this year, his credentials were revoked for “misconduct,” records show. Rai declined to comment.

Meanwhile, Dominique Boubion, a lawyer working with Carrillo, told BI that she is preparing to file a new lawsuit against El Monte County soon. That would bring the total number of active sexual assault cases against the district to five.

Matt Drange graduated from Rosemead High in 2007. Contact him safely here.

Representatives from the California Bureau of Children’s Justice can be reached here.