San Fernando Valley teacher gets 10 years in jail for molesting students

A former teacher will spend more than 10 years in jail for molesting girls at the San Fernando Valley high school where he taught science and coached lacrosse, according to City Atty. Mike Feuer’s office.

Scott Silva was convicted after a two-week jury trial of 25 criminal counts that included child molestation, sexual battery, false imprisonment and lewd conduct on a child, Feuer’s office said.

Silva was acquitted of one count of lewd conduct on a child and two counts of child molestation, according to court records. Two counts of sexual battery were dismissed.

Until his arrest in November, Silva, 44, was a teacher and coach at Birmingham Community Charter High School in Lake Balboa, according to a profile on the school’s website that has been taken down. Tracie Bowdoin, the school’s principal and chief executive, did not return a call for comment.

Eighteen girls reported being molested or touched inappropriately by Silva between 2016 and 2018, according to a criminal complaint filed by Feuer’s office.

“The young victims in this case showed extraordinary courage by coming forward and reporting these atrocious crimes,” Feuer said in a statement. Silva’s sentence “underscores the significance of his offenses,” he added.

Feuer’s office said those offenses “ranged from lewd comments to over-the-clothes touching of private parts to actual skin-on-skin contact with at least one underage female victim.”

In addition to his 10-year, 230-day sentence, Silva was given five years of probation and is required to register as a sex offender, according to Feuer’s office. His victims were issued 10-year protective orders.

Silva, Birmingham Community Charter and the Los Angeles Unified School District have been sued by the family of a student who said she was sexually assaulted and abused by Silva. Birmingham Community Charter is an independent charter school within L.A. Unified.

Silva was able to abuse the student, a civil complaint filed May 16 alleges, because school officials failed to oversee Silva and supervise the student, who said she was assaulted on campus and during school hours in 2018.

Had the school maintained the level of oversight required by law, the complaint says, the girl would not have suffered abuse that has left her humiliated, frightened and feeling powerless.

L.A. Unified declined to comment. Birmingham Community Charter didn’t respond to a request for comment.

Detectives were alerted to “inappropriate conduct” between Silva and a child Nov. 1, according to a Los Angeles Police Department news release. He was arrested two weeks later at his Simi Valley home and has remained in custody since.