{"id":229464,"date":"2026-03-21T02:05:10","date_gmt":"2026-03-21T02:05:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/229464\/"},"modified":"2026-03-21T02:05:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-21T02:05:10","slug":"el-monte-school-district-buried-teacher-sex-abuse-reports-probe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/229464\/","title":{"rendered":"El Monte school district buried teacher sex abuse reports: probe"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Los Angeles-area school district \u201cconsistently mishandled\u201d rampant sex abuse complaints involving teachers and coaches \u2014 hiding reports that perverted staff were molesting, harassing, and grooming minors from state regulators.<\/p>\n

El Monte Union High School District \u201csystemically\u201d broke state laws surrounding child sex abuse claims<\/a> and botched as many as 113 abuse cases over the course of decades, California Attorney General Rob Bonta said Friday. \u00a0<\/p>\n

Sex abuse cases that were swept under the rug included a wrestling coach who repeatedly groped boys during practice sessions and a special education teacher who molested and sent nude photos to an autistic girl, numerous lawsuits have alleged. <\/a><\/p>\n

\"FrontRosemead High School was the site of rampant sexual abuse that was swept under the rug. Google Maps<\/p>\n

\u201cIn more than 100 cases, we found the district failed to conduct a legally compliant investigation\u201d into sex abuse reports, Bonta said at a press conference. <\/p>\n

\u201cIn five cases, where we did not find evidence that a staff member made the mandated report about sexual abuse of a student by another staff member, that staff member was able to continue to abuse the student and abused and harassed additional students,\u201d he added. <\/p>\n

The findings resulted from a seven-year investigation conducted between 2018 and 2025, Bonta said.<\/p>\n

Under California law, teachers and other school staff are \u201cmandated reporters\u201d \u2014 meaning they are required to immediately report claims of child sexual abuse<\/a> to authorities.<\/p>\n

\"CaliforniaAttorney General Rob Bonta said the LA-area district enabled sexual predators after an investigation. REUTERS<\/p>\n

Instead, El Monte officials cultivated a \u201ctoxic\u201d culture where sex abuse and assault were swept under the rug, according to reports. <\/p>\n

Nine former students at Rosemead High School sued the district in 2024<\/a>, alleging they were abused by district employees.<\/p>\n

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The disturbing complaints included an autistic girl who claimed she was sexually harassed during and after school by a special education teacher, Edwin Reyes-Villegas. <\/p>\n

In another case, three former students accused wrestling coach Herbert Ortiz Monroy of repeatedly molesting boys and said the district enabled \u201ca culture of sexual abuse and harassment that discouraged reporting,\u201d Business Insider reported.<\/a> \u00a0<\/p>\n

Ortiz Monroy, who also went by Coach Ortiz, was sentenced to prison in 2013 after pleading no contest to oral copulation of a minor and committing a lewd act on a child.<\/p>\n

El Monte <\/a>agreed to a legal settlement requiring state oversight for four years, officials said Friday.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt El Monte Union High School District, student safety and well-being remain our highest priorities,\u201d\u00a0said El Monte Union High School\u00a0Superintendent Dr. Edward Zuniga.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis agreement reflects our continued commitment to strengthening systems that support safe, inclusive, and respectful learning environments.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Los Angeles-area school district \u201cconsistently mishandled\u201d rampant sex abuse complaints involving teachers and coaches \u2014 hiding reports…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":229465,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[7,9,8,15,47,4182,22334,15836,94899,29463,3586],"class_list":["post-229464","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-california","tag-california","tag-california-headlines","tag-california-news","tag-education","tag-los-angeles","tag-metro","tag-public-schools","tag-sexual-abuse","tag-sexual-assaults","tag-sexual-harassment","tag-us-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/229464","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=229464"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/229464\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/229465"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=229464"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=229464"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=229464"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}