Two assistant principals at Rialto’s Wilmer Amina Carter Excessive Faculty threatened to expel a pupil except she dropped a grievance that she was verbally abused and sexually assaulted by one other pupil, in line with a authorized declare filed Thursday, March 3, by the woman’s lawyer.
The declare, a precursor to a lawsuit towards the Rialto Unified Faculty District, alleges the woman reported to Assistant Principal David Shenhan Yang in November that she had been “bodily and verbally sexually assaulted and attacked” by a 17-year-old male pupil on the college the day earlier than.
Yang instructed the woman to attend outdoors his workplace so he may focus on the matter with Assistant Principal Natasha Harris-Dawson, in line with the declare. The 2 then started pressuring the woman to drop her grievance, partly suggesting she was guilty.
Throughout a gathering in Yang’s workplace, with a safety guard current, the woman was knowledgeable her alleged attacker was being harassed, referred to as a pervert, and bodily threatened by different college students. The woman instructed them she didn’t know the scholars who have been harassing the boy, nor did she have any management over them.
“Mr. Yang and the college’s safety guard instructed claimant she wanted to ‘drop the meat,’ and if she didn’t, she may and/or could be suspended or expelled,” in line with the declare.
Harris-Dawson subsequently referred to as the woman into her workplace and requested her if she had stated “no” to her alleged assailant, and, in that case, whether or not she stated it loud sufficient, and requested what number of instances she had stated it. Harris-Dawson then steered “possibly it was the way in which (the woman) was dressed,” in line with the declare.
The woman’s grievance languished.
Mom lastly knowledgeable
Three months later, the alleged sufferer instructed a trainer on the college what occurred, and he instructed her to make one other grievance with Assistant Principal Johanna Cuellar, who subsequently contacted the woman’s mom, Stephanie Olvera, at work, telling her “one thing had occurred to her daughter concerning a boy,” that the “incident was beneath investigation,” and that she had “nothing to fret about,” in line with the declare.
On Feb. 16, Olvera reported the suspected abuse to Rialto police, who started investigating. Every week later, on Feb. 23, police arrested Yang, 39, and Harris-Dawson, 37, on the college. They have been booked into the West Valley Detention Heart in Rancho Cucamonga, and launched from custody the next day on their very own recognizance.
Harris and Yang are every charged with one felony depend of kid abuse beneath circumstances or circumstances more likely to trigger nice bodily damage or loss of life and two misdemeanor counts of failure of a mandated reporter to report baby abuse or neglect. They're scheduled for arraignment in April in Rancho Cucamonga Superior Courtroom.
Different victims
When detectives seemed into the allegations, they discovered that two different ladies, ages 15 and 16, additionally had alleged they have been sexually assaulted by the identical suspect, and the 2 directors additionally had allegedly did not report a kind of alleged victims’ complaints when it was lodged with the college in September, police stated.
Police cited the accused 17-year-old boy for misdemeanor sexual battery and launched him to the custody of his mother and father. The San Bernardino County Probation Division is reviewing the case, and District Lawyer Jason Anderson stated he expects to obtain a advice from probation officers inside a month.
“Rialto Unified Faculty District takes the allegations within the declare for damages critically, and doesn't condone any act of sexual misconduct towards any members of our group,” college district spokeswoman Syeda Jafri stated in an announcement Thursday.
The district despatched out a notification to folks final week informing them of the scenario, saying it was cooperating with legislation enforcement within the felony investigation and was conducting an investigation of its personal into what occurred.
Confrontation posted on TikTok
After studying what occurred along with her daughter, Olvera confronted Cuellar nose to nose on the college, recording the encounter on video and posting it on TikTok.
@penelope_73
“You instructed me I had nothing to fret about,” Olvera tells Cuellar. “How dare you inform me I had nothing to fret about? How dare you not name the cops yesterday?”
Cuellar instructed Olvera she would name police, to which Olvera replied, “Oh, now you'll!”
Assistant principal denies wrongdoing
Harris-Dawson has denied any wrongdoing. Yang couldn't be reached for remark.
“My consumer is being accused of one thing she didn't do. She was by no means instructed, by any pupil, together with our purported sufferer, that somebody was touching that particular person in a sexual approach,” stated Harris-Dawson’s lawyer, Michael Scafiddi.
Scafiddi stated police rushed to judgment in a lightning-quick investigation, with out corroborating any of the alleged sufferer’s statements with different witnesses. He stated his consumer solely turned conscious of the allegations after police acquired a grievance and started investigating on Feb. 16.
“My consumer was by no means notified by any baby at that faculty that they have been being touched in a sexual method,” Scafiddi stated.
He stated Harris-Dawson was an exemplary administrator at Carter Excessive Faculty, the place she has been employed since 2017. She beforehand taught center college and highschool for the Moreno Valley Unified Faculty District from 2007 to 2015, and previous to that taught on the Ok-12 stage in Washington state.
At Carter Excessive Faculty, Scafiddi stated, “My consumer is affectionately generally known as Mama Harris, Mama, or just Harris. She is beloved.”
He stated Harris-Dawson has a historical past of persistently calling police and county baby protecting providers when pupil complaints warrant it.
Police, DA criticized
Scafiddi was unsparing of his criticism towards Rialto police, who he stated pressured his consumer to do a “perp stroll” when she was arrested on the college. He stated police investigators rushed to judgment, and that the District Lawyer’s Workplace basically took police at their phrase.
“Jason Anderson is a splendidly gifted lawyer. He’s a beautiful D.A.. His workplace is among the fairest D.A.’s Workplaces I’ve ever handled. However Jason is basing his data on the Rialto PD investigation, which is incomplete and inaccurate,” Scafiddi stated. “Police haven’t challenged any of those conflicting tales. They haven’t investigated the prior historical past of those youngsters. There’s no data within the police experiences that they’ve achieved any follow-up investigation to problem the assertion of the accuser.”
Anderson stated his workplace charged Yang and Harris-Dawson primarily based on sturdy proof, believing the costs will be confirmed to a jury “past an affordable doubt.”
Scafiddi believes Harris-Dawson might be vindicated when the info of the case are offered in courtroom.
“We imagine that my consumer might be absolutely exonerated,” he stated. “My consumer won't ever plead to something on this case, as a result of she didn’t do something. The cops bought it improper.”
In response, Rialto Police Chief Mark Kling stated in an announcement, “The Rialto Police Division won't touch upon an ongoing sexual battery investigation involving youngsters. Our division will proceed defending youngsters and won't revictimize a toddler who experiences sexual battery by commenting publicly.
“It’s disappointing that an officer of the courtroom, primarily protection counsel, would assert their place within the courtroom of public opinion, as a substitute of reserving any feedback for the suitable venue. That venue is Superior Courtroom within the County of San Bernardino.”