LAUSD agrees to $6.5-million payout to a victim after administrators failed to report sex abuse by a teacher

The Los Angeles Unified School District has agreed to pay $6.5 million to a former student who sued the district and two of its administrators for failing to report that the student was molested by a science teacher, attorneys for the victim said Wednesday.

The former student at South East High School sued in January, about 16 years after, the litigation alleges, she was molested, abused and raped by her school mentor, Jesus Salvador Saenz. The student reported it to the two administrators, who were later convicted of criminal charges for failing to report the crime.

Jesus Angulo and Maria Sotomayor, who formerly served as South East High School’s principal and assistant principal, were convicted of violating a state law that requires school administrators to report any reasonable suspicion of child abuse. Both pleaded no contest in 2008 to the misdemeanor offense of failing to report to authorities that the student, who was 17 at the time, had informed them she had been sexually abused.

Despite heavy public criticism from prosecutors, both administrators were allowed to return to school and were eventually promoted within the district, according to the lawsuit.

“We are pleased in the resolution of this matter,” said Morgan Stewart, who represents the victim, now 32. “However, the severity of LAUSD’s actions, in this case, is seen in the record-breaking sum for which it settled. The fact that LAUSD continues to employ those who failed to mandatorily report and paid out this amount should be a message to all school districts that they cannot continue to operate in the manner that they are operating when it comes to sexual abuse.”

Stewart said that beyond the settlement, his client has also agreed to “cooperate in disciplinary proceedings in regard to these two administrators.” The school board approved the settlement about a month ago, and the payout has now been made.

The teenager reported the sexual abuse to two administrators who “pressured her to recant” her story by telling her she would be in trouble for reporting the crime and threatening her,” according to the lawsuit.

The lawsuit alleges Angulo and Sotomayor, after berating the student for more than eight hours, failed to fulfill their legal duties to protect her, “perhaps their singularly most important job.”

Seven months after the student made that report to the principal and assistant principal, the teacher was prosecuted and convicted of unlawful sex with a minor. Sex crimes investigators learned about the allegations after a school police officer reported learning of the case. Saenz pleaded no contest and was sentenced to 270 days in jail.

Charges were later filed against the administrators for failing to report the crimes.

In a legal claim, the school officer alleged he was given “freeway therapy” and transferred to a location far from his home after exposing the principal and assistant principal, according to the lawsuit. The officer alleges he was transferred the day the two administrators were allowed to return to the campus in 2008.

In the lawsuit, the victim, who is not identified, alleges that LAUSD punished her for reporting her abuse by putting her in a home school program, giving her a diploma and disinviting her from walking in graduation.

Los Angeles Unified has paid nearly $400 million in sexual abuse verdicts and settlements during the last few decades. In October, the district paid $52 million to settle a lawsuit by victims of wrestling coach Terry Gillard, who is serving a 71-year sentence in prison after sexual abuse allegations at a Boys & Girls Club and at John H. Francis Polytechnic High in Sun Valley.