SCHJOOL TEACHER FROM HELL

Accused of molesting as many as 20 LA elementary school students

He is very likely to spend the rest of his retirement locked up behind bars as he does not appear to be eligible for Gov. Moonbeam’s prison realignment program.

SCHOOL TEACHER ACCUSED OF SEXUALLY ABUSING UP TO 20 CHILDREN IN LOS ANGELES
Teacher has been charged with committing 15 felonies at George De La Torre Jr. elementary school

By Jill Reilly

Mail Online
January 24, 2013

A former Los Angeles elementary school teacher who taught for more than 35 years has been arrested on accusations he sexually abused 20 students.

Police say Robert Pimentel has been charged with 15 felonies, and he is expected to be charged with misdemeanors for the remaining incidents at George De La Torre Jr. Elementary in the Wilmington area of Los Angeles.

Pimentel's bail has been set at $12 million, and an arraignment date hasn't been set.

Police and school officials also said Pimentel is also suspected of the sexual abuse of one adult, but did not say what role if any that person had at the school.

Pimentel, 57, left his fourth-grade teaching position last March when allegations arose from several girls who told their parents he inappropriately touched them during school and police opened an investigation.

District officials immediately removed him from campus and parents and state credentialing authorities were informed, school district spokesman Daryl Strickland said.

Parents and guardians will be told of the arrest by letter and phone, he said.

'Due to the number of victims involved in this case, that's what took so long for it to culminate,' said Det. Gus Villanueva with the LAPD told ABC7.

Before the official dismissal process with the Board of Education could begin, Pimentel, who had worked for the district since 1974, retire.

'Can you go back and fire someone who's already retired? No, you can't,' LAUSD Superintendent John Deasy told the Los Angeles Times.

Deasy said the school's principal was also immediately removed because the superintendent was 'dissatisfied' with how the incident was handled.

Court records obtained by the Times show the allegations covered a period between Sept. 2011 to March 2012.

LAPD Capt. Fabian Lizzaraga told the newspaper Pimentel is suspected of inappropriately touching the children over and under their clothing.

The Los Angeles teachers' union issued a statement calling the incidents described in the allegations 'horrific' and saying that Pimentel was no longer a member and the union would not be involved in his defense.

The Police Department said the teacher's name was spelled 'Pimental,' but the school district and public records give the spelling as 'Pimentel.'

Police did not know if he had hired an attorney.

A woman who picked up the phone at a number listed for Pimentel hung up when asked about a lawyer or comment from family.

There have been several high-profile recent cases of Los Angeles teachers accused of sexually abusing students.

More than 225 parents and students are involved in various claims for damages against the district after Miramonte Elementary School teacher Mark Berndt was arrested a year ago and has pleaded not guilty to 23 counts of lewd conduct.

In December, a jury ordered the district to pay a boy molested by an elementary school teacher $6.9 million - among the largest awards in the history of the school system.

The jury found the district liable for the repeated molestation of the 10-year-old student in 2008 and 2009 by teacher Forrest Stobbe at Queen Anne Elementary School in the city's mid-Wilshire district.