Sexual Abuse in Schools
Jeff Anderson & Associates is recognized as the nation’s premier law firm to represent victims of childhood sexual abuse. Our law firm of legal professionals and advocates have spent over thirty years working with survivors of sexual abuse and litigating cases against schools, churches, and other institutions nationwide. We are honored to stand with and fight for our clients one-on-one, and provide them the attention, counsel, and care each survivor of child sexual abuse deserves. is more than our jobs, it is our cause, and we work tirelessly to advance the child protection movement and help every survivor find justice, healing, and reclaim some of the power taken from them as kids.
California
The Los Angeles Unified School District [LAUSD] is the second-largest school district in the nation and serves over 600,000 students enrolled in over 1,000 schools. Well over 70 sexual assault lawsuits have been filed identifying LAUSD employees under the California Child Victims Act.
In April of 2024, allegations of sexual abuse against a teacher came to light. Former American Canyon PE teacher and track coach Brad Rowell has been charged with 16 counts of lewd acts on a minor, six counts of unlawful sexual intercourse, two counts of oral copulation of a minor, and one count of possessing child pornography.
Samantha Ciotta, a former English teacher at Beaumont High School, was arrested in 2017 for her then relationship with a minor student and was placed on administrative leave from the Beaumont Unified School District. According to the minor’s guardian, the minor victim met Ciotta in her English class, and Ciotta offered to provide the alleged victim with additional help. Investigators with the Beaumont Police Department believe Ciotta had a relationship with the minor for several months. In 2018, Ciotta was sentenced to four years of probation and pleaded guilty to three felony charges of unlawful intercourse with a minor.
Couragous survivors filed lawsuits under the California Child Victims Act identifying Bell High School employees Meredith Seals and Juan Fraga as perpetrators of child sexual abuse. Seals was hired by the Los Angeles Unified School District to work as a Driver’s Ed teacher and a track coach. Fraga was hired by the Los Angeles Unified School District to work as an auto shop teacher at Bell High School.
Jeff Anderson & Associates has suits filed under the California Child Victims Act (AB 218) against Bellarmine College Preparatory School (Diocese of San Jose), the Archdiocese of San Francisco, and the Society of Jesus for child sexual assault by Brother William C. Farrington, S.J.
Henry “Hank” Friedman was hired by the Beverly Hills Unified School District and for years he worked as a science teacher, baseball coach, and football coach at Beverly Hills High School. According to an LA Times article from 1981, a police investigation into allegations revealed “eight or nine” former students who were prepared to testify that Friedman had touched them inappropriately after directing them to disrobe.
In the spring of 2022, the law firm of Jeff Anderson filed a lawsuit on behalf of five courageous survivors against Capital Christian School under the California Child Victims Act, Identifying David Arnold as an alleged perpetrator of child sexual abuse.
Centennial High School is a California Distinguished public school located in Corona, California. It is one of eight high schools in the Corona-Norco Unified School District and is the only high school in the district that provides the International Baccalaureate program of study. In 2015, Summer Michelle Hansen, a former special education teacher, pleaded guilty to multiple sex-related charges and was sentenced to three years in prison. Hansen allegedly engaged in sex acts with five male students.
Colton High School is a public high school located in Colton, California which opened in 1895 as the first High School in the Colton Joint Unified School District. At least 6 former football players who attended Colton High School, allege that Tiffany Gordon, the school’s Athletic Trainer at the time, repeatedly abused them.
Eleanor Roosevelt High School has been at the center of serious allegations. In April 2023, investigators from the Riverside County Sheriff’s Office, Special Victims Unit responded to allegations of inappropriate contact between a teacher and students at Eleanor Roosevelt High School. The teacher, Chad Costello, was placed on administrative leave during the investigation. After the investigation by Riverside law enforcement, it was determined that Costello had engaged in inappropriate contact with students.
Epiphany Catholic School and Parish, located in South El Monte, California, was established in 1959 and serves students in pre-school through 8th grade. Epiphany School was operated by the Bernardine Sisters of St. Francis and Lay personnel until June of 2000. From 1958 to 1992, numerous priests accused of sexually abusing children were assigned to and worked with children at Epiphany School.
Jeff Anderson & Associates has filed lawsuits against Fullerton Joint Union High School District under the new California Child Victims Act (AB 218) for childhood sexual assault by Charles “Chuck” Ritz III, a math teacher, soccer coach, and surf club advisor at La Habra High School.
Dozens of survivors at Mater Dei High School in Santa Ana came forward to expose child sexual abuse and hazing at the prestigious Catholic high school located in the Diocese of Orange. In November 2021, a lawsuit was filed on behalf of a survivor of a hazing ritual involving the nationally ranked football team, that left the survivor with a brain injury.
Mark Berndt, a former teacher at Miramonte Elementary School, sexually abused and harassed minor students for years in the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD). Berndt taught at Miramonte from 1979 to 2011. In 2014, LAUSD resolved legal claims totaling $139 million from 81 Miramonte students accusing Berndt of lewd acts
Mt. Carmel High School has recently been in the news due to a serious case involving sexual abuse. According to the San Diego Union-Tribune, Stacy Michelle Walker, a former teacher at Mt. Carmel, was arrested and charged with 17 felonies for what a prosecutor called “a highly inappropriate relationship” that began when the victim was 15 years old and continued until 2020
In 2019, Lino Cabrera, a former Los Angeles Unified School District employee at Oxnard Street Elementary School in North Hollywood, was arrested on allegations he sexually abused six minor female students from 2016 to 2019.
Located within the Diocese of San Jose in California, Presentation High School is a private college prep school for girls in San Jose. In September of 2019, following a string of child sexual abuse reports and increasing attention resulting from abuse survivors sharing their stories, the administration enlisted Van Dermyden Maddux Law Corporation (Firm) to conduct a “thorough and impartial investigation into past reports of sexual abuse and misconduct and the handling of such allegations throughout the history of the school.”
Four students identified as Does filed a lawsuit in Solano County Superior Court on April 24, 2024, alleging that former Robert Semple teacher Matthew Joseph Shelton harassed and sexually abused them during the 2022-2023 school year.
David Sepe was employed by the Anaheim Unified High School District starting in approximately 1996 and worked as a history teacher at Savanna High School for many years before he was transferred to Katella High School. Through his position of power, Sepe utilized tactics such as special treatment and favoritism as well as emotional, psychological, and physical grooming, to gain trust and access to minor students. To this day, according to the staff sections on both Katella and Savanna High Schools’ websites, David Sepe is still currently employed by Anaheim Unified High School District, and works as a teacher at Katella High School.
Servite High School, a Catholic college preparatory school for boys located in Anaheim, California, was founded in 1958 and claims to be committed to developing students through academic excellence, prestigious athletics, and extracurricular opportunities. It was through these activities Fr. Kevin Fitzpatrick accessed and allegedly sexually abused minor student-athletes.
Jeff Anderson & Associates filed multiple lawsuits under the California Child Victims Act (AB 218) against Saint Francis High School, the Capuchin Franciscans, and the Archdiocese of Los Angeles for child sexual assault by one of its religious order priests and former faculty member, Father Christopher Kearney O.F.M.Cap. Fr. Kearney has been accused of sexually abusing at least 15 minors.
According to the Sacramento Bee, in July 2024, former Sycamore Junior High School teacher, Michelle Christine Solis, was sentenced to four years in prison for having sex with her 14-year-old student in a classroom on the day of his graduation.
According to KTLA 5 news, former Taft Elementary School teacher Paul Edward Lowe was arrested by detectives on November 9, 2021, and charged with 14 counts of sexual assault of a child. The allegations against Paul Edward Lowe surfaced in September 2021 and resulted in a police investigation.
Hawaii
Damien Memorial School (formerly an all-boys educational institution) is now a co-ed, 6-12th grade school missioned by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Honolulu, Hawaii. Damien Memorial School has been a notorious dumping ground for child predators as evidenced by the numerous sexual abuse survivors who have already come forward.
Minnesota
In 2012, Minnesota was rocked by a revelation that the prestigious boarding school and hockey powerhouse, Shattuck – St. Mary’s School, in Faribault, Minnesota, had a secret and tragic history of sexual coercion and sexual abuse. According to reports, teachers such as Lynn Seibel were permitted by the school administration to sexually exploit children for years without the threat of repercussion or police involvement.
New Jersey
In 1986, Chartwell Manor Headmaster and teacher Terence Michael Lynch was indicted on more than 100 counts of sexually abusing 14 minor students since 1980. Home to a culture of abuse and secrecy, the Mendham Township institution allowed perpetrators to abuse students unchecked for years. Jeff Anderson & Associated filed dozens of cases under the New Jersey Victims’ Rights Bill against Chartwell Manor identifying Terence Michael Lynch, and other staff members as perpetrators.
Delbarton School was established in 1939 and is a nationally renowned elite private boys’ Catholic school located within the Archdiocese of Newark. Jeff Anderson & Associates filed dozens of cases against Dlebartion School under the New Jersey Victims’ Rights Bill identifying Fr. Timothy J. Brennan, O.S.B., Fr. Benedict Worry, O.S.B., Fr. Bruno Ugliano, O.S.B., Fr. Donal R. Fox, O.S.B., and other priests as alleged child abusers.
New York
In 2015 an alumni-led report suggested that the top-tier Bronx private school, Horace Mann, was an insulated institution of systemic abuse and secrecy for decades (1960s – 1990s).
For years Loyola School—a small, Jesuit-run co-ed college prep high school in New York City, was home to respected teacher and basketball coach Louis Tambini, who was credibly accused of molesting seven girls in the 70s and 80s.
In January 2018, an investigative report was released showing 10 former teachers and faculty members engaged in “either sexual misconduct or other improper relationships with students.” The alleged abuse spanned from the 1960s to the mid-2000s. Former faculty members accused of inappropriate conduct with students include Arthur Budington, E. Webster Dann, Julie Jones, and Donna Armistead.
The Park School of Buffalo released an investigative report in December 2018 after at least 30 former students came forward and alleged abuse by at least 12 faculty members, coaches, and staff, in the 1980s and 1990s. In November 2019, Jeff Anderson & Associates and the Law Office of Steve Boyd, PC, filed a lawsuit on behalf of a survivor alleged abused by former English teacher Leonard Adkins, Jr.
From the late 60s to the early 90s Poly Prep Country Day School’s varsity football coach, Phillip Foglietta, targeted, groomed, and sexually abused numerous high school students with impunity.
In 2012, Richard Hovan, a geometry and calculus teacher at the prestigious Riverdale Country School in the Bronx, was arrested for raping a 16-year-old female student and convicted as a level-two sex offender.
On July 11, 2021, the law firm of Jeff Anderson & Associates filed a lawsuit identifying Richard Bourque as an alleged perpetrator located within the Diocese of Buffalo. The alleged abuse occurred from approximately 1992 to 1994 while Bourque was a teacher at St. Christopher in Tonawanda, New York.
According to an official list released by the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) in January of 2019, the following are priests credibly accused of sexual abuse and have taught at the Jesuit-run, all-boys school between 1946 and 2002: Cornelius Carr, Thomas Denny, Raymond Fullam, John Garvey, James Kuntz, Keith Picklers, William Scanlon, and Joseph Towle.