Teacher had sex with her when she was 14; he was 41.
AB Wire
In one of the highest awards of its kind in recent history, a then 14-year-old girl, who was sexually abused numerous times by her Diamond Bar middle school teacher – who was then 41 years old – and later accused the school district of ignoring early signs of misconduct, has been awarded $8 million by a jury, in California.
Steven Andrews, the guilty teacher at Lorbeer Middle School in Diamond Bar, is already serving more than 15 years in prison after being convicted of 17 felonies, including several counts of unlawful sexual intercourse with the teenager, who is now 19 years old, reported KTLA.
The girl said Andrews repeatedly gave her passes to leave other teachers’ classes to be alone with him, had physical contact with her inside his locked classroom and had sex with her at his home and when they were supposed to be on a school trip to Disneyland, court records show.
The Los Angeles Times, who first reported the jury award story, said the victim accused the school district of ignoring early signs of misconduct.
The girl said Andrews repeatedly gave her passes to leave other teachers’ classes to be alone with him, had physical contact with her inside his locked classroom and had sex with her at his home and when they were supposed to be on a school trip to Disneyland, court records show.
Attorney John C. Taylor, who represents the woman, said the verdict reflected the years of pain his client suffered and he criticized administrators who ignored warnings from teachers.
“They had red flag after red flag about Andrews’ behavior toward her. They truly looked the other way. They were more worried about the school district or the teacher,” he said.
During a 10-day trial, attorneys for the Pomona Unified School District argued that all of the dozen sex acts between the teacher and student had occurred off campus and that the school principal did not know Andrews posed a reasonable foreseeable risk of harm to students.
In a statement after the verdict, the district wrote that its “highest priority remains the health and safety of all its students, faculty and staff. In this case, the actions of the teacher were unacceptable, unlawful, and led to his immediate termination,” the statement said. “The District has taken this matter very seriously from its inception. We diligently adhere to background checks and protocols before hiring, including monitoring updates. As we move forward, we will remain diligent in our efforts to do everything within our authority to continue to protect our students.”
The Pomona Unified district must pay 80% of the judgment, with Andrews being deemed responsible for the rest, reported the Times.
The student’s attorneys had argued that as early as 2001, other teachers had complained that too many girls were hanging out in Andrews’ classroom. One teacher complained that Andrews removed students too frequently from other classes for activities.
Andrews began teaching the victim’s seventh-grade history class in 2009, when she was 12. By the fall of 2010, he was giving her gifts and spending time alone with her, according to court records. He regularly wrote hall passes to release the girl from her other classes despite objections from teachers, court records show.
Read the full story in the Los Angeles Times: http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-8-million-verdict-sex-abuse-teacher-20160511-story.html