Records Sought in Abuse Lawsuit

A former student who sued Mater Dei High School alleging she was sexually abused by a coach is pressing school officials in Santa Ana to turn over the records of faculty members accused of similar behavior in the mid-1990s.

Orange County Superior Court Judge Jonathan H. Cannon is expected to rule today on whether the Roman Catholic high school must release the information.

John Manly, the accuser’s attorney, said disclosure was needed to determine how school officials handled any allegations of sexual abuse by faculty during his client’s four years at Mater Dei.

“The important thing is to learn how many perpetrators are at Mater Dei, who they are and how has the school handled complaints,” Manly said.

In court papers, school attorneys argue that if other allegations exist, they are not relevant to the case.

Also, the lawyers expressed concern that the names of the accused and their alleged victims could become public.

The former student filed a lawsuit in 2005 alleging that assistant basketball coach Jeff Andrade sexually abused her for a year, beginning when she was 15. (The Times does not identify victims of sexual abuse without their consent.)

Known in her lawsuit as Jane C.R. Doe, the accuser alleges she was forced to have sex with Andrade in classrooms, hotel rooms, his house and his car.

Attorneys for Andrade, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange and Mater Dei High School did not return calls or declined to comment.

The sexual abuse suit is one of several filed in recent years involving educators at Mater Dei, one of the largest parochial schools in the country and a national academic and athletic powerhouse.

Manly said he would also ask the judge to require Brenda Yecke, a former dean of students, to answer questions he posed to her in a deposition.

Transcripts show attorneys for the school and the diocese instructed Yecke not to answer questions on why the accuser’s parents were not called, how many investigations into sexual abuse occurred while she was there, and whether the allegations were reported to law enforcement.

Mater Dei attorney Thomas M. Rutherford argued that Yecke answered many of the questions.

He said Manly was abusing the discovery process to gain irrelevant information.

The school’s lawyers also question why an alleged victim who filed a lawsuit under a fictitious name to protect her privacy is entitled to the names of minors who may have filed complaints against the school.

“I need to talk to [the victims] because otherwise I have to take Mater Dei’s word about what happened,” Manly said.