California AG is investigating how it handles high-profile fraud claims at Rosemead

• The California attorney general is investigating the El Monte Union school district in southern California.
• The action follows a report by Business Insider about a pattern of sexual misconduct at one of the district’s schools, Rosemead High.
• Investigators are looking into compliance failures related to “suspected child molestation, sexual abuse or assault.”

California’s attorney general is investigating a Southern California school district over whether it properly handled complaints of teacher sexual abuse and misconduct, according to documents reviewed by Business Insider.

BI was the first to obtain evidence of a pattern of violence at Rosemead High School, overseen by the El Monte Union School District, over a period of time number revealing widespread complaints of sexual misconduct involving more than 20 different teachers that occurred from the 1980s until last year. In several cases, employees were alerted to inappropriate relationships between co-workers and students failed to report them to child protective services, even though he is authorized to do so under state law.

A document reviewed by BI says the scope of the state’s investigation includes “district policies relating to sexual abuse, assault, and harassment, as well as compliance with laws and regulations regarding mandatory reporting of suspected child abuse, sexual abuse, assault, harassment, and related employment and training requirements.” Multiple people familiar with the investigation, who BI is not naming because they have been instructed not to discuss it, described the investigation as focusing in part on whether Rosemead administrators adequately handled allegations of teacher abuse that spanned decades.

An investigation into a local school district is a rare step for the state’s top law enforcement agency. The only investigation the attorney general made public into teacher sexual abuse involved another Southern California district, Redlands Unified, which ended earlier this year when the office found that the district “systematically violated applicable laws designed to protect against and resolve complaints of sexual assault, harassment, and harassment.” Redlands agreed to precipitate in June, which puts the district under five years of state supervision.

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

BI has previously identified numerous instances in which tips from faculty, students, parents and community members led to cursory investigations by Rosemead administrators and district officials, often ending the teacher was allowed to return to the classroom – where, according to records, new allegations of abuse have emerged. In testimony last year, district human resources director Robin Torres said a district investigation into one teacher’s relationship with a student “appears to have resulted in no follow-up.” After reviewing district records regarding sexual harassment complaints filed by multiple students against another teacher, Torres said, “I expected to find additional information about these allegations.”

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People familiar with the state’s investigation say it is in its early stages and still ongoing. District Superintendent Edward Zuniga did not comment on the investigation. “The health and safety of our students is our highest priority,” he said in an email. “El Monte Union does not tolerate any behavior that undermines these values, and we take swift and decisive action if we suspect that student safety is in any way at risk.”

In an Aug. 21 letter that Zuniga sent to staff and the district’s board of trustees, he disclosed details of the Attorney General’s investigation and instructed staff to refrain from discussing the matter with anyone outside the district. The letter ordered employees to retain all documents “potentially relevant to the investigation,” including notes, emails, voicemails, diaries, text messages and meeting minutes.

Four lawsuits and counting

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

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

In the case involving the naming of district and special education teacher Edwin Reyes-Villegas, a former Rosemead student identified as Jane Doe claims that Reyes-Villegas sexually assaulted and molested her when she was 17 years old. According to complaint — filed by lawyers from Manly, Stewart & Finaldi, which also represented 37 reasons who filed sexual abuse lawsuits against Redlands County that resulted in a settlement totaling more than $45 million – the autistic girl was “particularly vulnerable” to abuse by Reyes-Villegas. The complaint said the harassment occurred during and after school and included the exchange of “communications of a sexual nature.”

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

In another case filed by the same companythree former students who trained to join Rosemead High’s championship wrestling team are suing the El Monte district and their former coach, Herbert Ortiznmonroy. The lawsuit alleges that Ortizmonroy repeatedly molested boys, one of whom joined Rosemead, and that district officials failed to supervise him, enabling a “culture of sexual abuse and harassment that discouraged reporting.” Ortizmonroy, who also coached Ortiz at Rosemead, he was sentenced to prison in 2013, after pleading not guilty to charges of oral copulation with a minor and committing a lewd act against a child; He remains in custody and did not respond to a request for comment.

Some additional case this Carrillo submitted in June on behalf of nine other plaintiffs, All Jane Does alleges that “mishandling of allegations of sexual abuse, harassment and molestation has been and is a systemic problem” in El Monte County.

One of the former Rosemead teachers named in the case Alex Raiearlier this year, his credentials were revoked due to “improper conduct,” records show. Rai declined to comment.

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

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

You can contact representatives of the California Office of Children’s Justice Here.