"LA teacher charged with molesting 23 kids" February 01, 2012
LOS ANGELES - A veteran elementary school teacher was arrested on child molestation charges after a film processor gave police photos showing blindfolded children with their mouths taped and cockroaches on their faces, authorities said yesterday....
Sheriff’s Lieutenant Carlos Marquez of the Special Victims Bureau said that it was determined that some girls were given semen on a spoon or on a cookie.
Authorities are recommending the children be tested for sexually transmitted diseases.
Some of the children’s mouths and faces had large, live Madagascar-type cockroaches on them, the statement said.
None of the alleged victims told anyone about the incidents and photos, and they reported they didn’t know they were being violated and thought it was a game, Marquez said.
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"Complaint made in ’94 about LA teacher" February 03, 2012
LOS ANGELES - Deputies recommended in 1994 that an attempted fondling charge should be filed against a teacher now suspected of taking bondage-style photographs of children in his class, but prosecutors refused, saying there wasn’t enough evidence, authorities disclosed yesterday.
The investigation came after a 10-year-old girl said elementary school teacher Mark Berndt reached toward her genitals during class and she pushed his hand away, sheriff’s Sergeant Dan Scott said.
The details of the 18-year-old case and other accusations by two former students about Berndt’s behavior surfaced three days after his arrest.
The allegations raised further questions about why he was not disciplined by school officials, who have been lambasted by some parents for waiting a year to disclose that Berndt was suspected of photographing the children. Only parents of children identified as victims were told by authorities about the most recent investigation.
School officials and investigators said proper procedures were followed to investigate.
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"2d LA teacher accused of abuse" February 04, 2012|By Robert Jablon
LOS ANGELES - A second teacher pulled from a classroom at Miramonte Elementary School was arrested for investigation of lewd acts on two girls yesterday, just days after a third-grade teacher from the same campus was charged with lewd acts involving photographing nearly two dozen children for sexual thrills, authorities said.
Sheriff’s Captain Mike Parker said Martin Springer, 49, of Alhambra was arrested based on information that came forward after the first arrest was announced, but there was no known connection between the two cases. Parker said the victims in the second case were about 7 years old and allegedly were fondled in a classroom.
In a related development, a lawyer yesterday filed a claim against the Los Angeles Unified School District stating that he intended to file a lawsuit on behalf of an unidentified girl who ate a sugar cookie laced with the semen of the first teacher arrested, Mark Berndt....
Earlier, two women who were former students of Berndt told the Los Angeles Times that complaints were made about his odd behavior as far back as 1990.
Berndt is suspected of snapping nearly 400 photographs of Miramonte students, some with a giant Madagascar cockroach on their faces.
Others were blindfolded or had clear tape over their mouths, sheriff’s Sergeant Dan Scott said Thursday.
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"Classes canceled after teachers are suspected of lewd acts at LA school" Associated Press, February 07, 2012
LOS ANGELES — The superintendent of schools met with worried parents yesterday and classes were canceled for two days at a Los Angeles elementary school where two teachers are suspected of lewd acts with young students....
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"Teacher’s aide charge adds to LA school woes" by Christina Hoag | Associated Press, February 09, 2012
LOS ANGELES - Officials at an elementary school rocked by teacher sex abuse claims are investigating yet another allegation of misconduct, this one involving a teacher’s aide accused of sending love letters to an 11-year-old boy.
The mother of the fourth-grader told the Los Angeles Times that the aide, a woman the mother said appeared to be in her 50s, sent at least three letters to her son in 2009, including one that read: “When you get close to me, even if you give me the chills I like that. Don’t tell nobody about this!’’
I guess the grammar is why she was an aide.
School district administrators are already moving to replace the entire staff at Miramonte Elementary School as the Los Angeles Unified School District investigates two veteran teachers arrested last week.
Mark Berndt, 61, is charged with committing lewd acts on children, ages 6 to 10, between 2005 and 2010. The alleged acts include blindfolding children, feeding them semen, taping their mouths, and photographing them in a game.
Why cut the cockroach part?
The furor led to two parents coming forward Thursday to complain that teacher Martin Springer, 49, who had worked at the school for 26 years, fondled two second-grade girls in his classroom....
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"Teacher in lewd acts case paid to resign" Associated Press, February 11, 2012
LOS ANGELES - A former third-grade teacher charged with committing lewd acts on students was paid $40,000 to drop an appeal of his firing, a newspaper reported yesterday.
The Los Angeles Unified School District settled with Mark Berndt because it couldn’t defend his February 2011 firing, district general counsel David Holmquist told the Los Angeles Times.
Berndt was removed from the classroom in January 2011 and dismissed as the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department was investigating him.
“We were told we could not do any investigation’’ to avoid interfering with the criminal probe, Holmquist said.
“We didn’t have any evidence and we couldn’t put on any witnesses. We didn’t have anything to successfully defend a challenge.’’
Berndt, 61, recently was charged with 23 counts of lewd acts upon children, ages 6 to 10, in his classroom from 2005 to 2010.
A second Miramonte teacher, Martin Springer, 49, was fired this week and has pleaded not guilty to committing three lewd acts on one girl in class in 2009.
He was freed on bail early yesterday, though the Sheriff’s Department said he was fitted with a court-ordered electronic ankle monitor.
At Miramonte, students returned to class for the first time Thursday since the entire 120-member staff was replaced in an unprecedented move by the school district.
It's called COLLECTIVE PUNISHMENT!
Only 68 percent of the 948 expected students attended.
The day got off to a rough start with the teachers union president assailing the reassignment of teachers as a stunt and about 100 parents and students blasting the move.
How ironic! COLLECTIVE PUNISHMENT for TEACHERS as they have their COLLECTIVE BARGAINING RIGHTS STRIPPED!
United Teachers Los Angeles President Warren Fletcher said teachers were being “tarred and stigmatized for no reason’’ and that grievances would be filed against the district on behalf of some 85 reassigned teachers.
Superintendent John Deasy said the makeover was needed to clear the school of a cloud of distrust and suspicion stemming.
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Next Day Update: LA teacher aide is arrested for sex contact
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