Ten former Liberty Elementary Faculty college students allegedly sexually assaulted by former faculty expertise aide Fernando Figueroa will obtain a $13.7 million settlement from the Riverside Unified Faculty District, attorneys for the victims mentioned Tuesday, April 19.
The victims ranged in age from 7 to 11 on the time of the alleged abuse.
Police arrested Figueroa in February 2017 and he was indicted eight months later by a grand jury. As a part of a plea settlement, Figueroa admitted that he “dedicated lewd and lascivious acts upon 11 totally different victims between 2014 and February 8, 2017,” attorneys mentioned. On Dec. 13, 2019, he was sentenced to twenty years to life in jail.
Riverside Unified officers didn't reply Wednesday to cellphone calls and emails looking for touch upon the settlement.
Attorneys with the Irvine-based regulation agency of Manly, Stewart & Finaldi, who're representing the victims, mentioned in an announcement Wednesday that civil lawsuits filed in opposition to the Riverside Unified Faculty District state that as early because the 2014-2015 faculty yr, a number of workers grew to become conscious of complaints by one sufferer about Figueroa’s inappropriate touching. The kid’s mom additionally contacted the college’s principal to complain, butthe grievance alleges that nothing was accomplished.
“Testimony within the civil case has additionally revealed that Figueroa was typically seen hugging kids and located alone with kids behind locked, closed doorways in lecture rooms with the lights off,” the assertion mentioned. “Figueroa was nonetheless allowed unfettered entry to kids and the abuse continued for years.”
It's also alleged that Riverside Unified did not conduct an sufficient background examine of Figueroa, who had been accused of sexual misconduct with a member of the family earlier than the district employed him.
Saul Wolf, an lawyer for the victims, mentioned the inaction by Riverside Unified is a “textbook instance” of a district that has failed in its obligations to guard college students.
“It's abundantly clear that the corrupt tradition on the highest ranges of Riverside Unified Faculty District and Liberty Elementary Faculty allowed a serial predator to run amok at an elementary faculty and molest weak kids at will,” Wolf mentioned. “It's my honest hope that the quantity of this settlement will power Riverside Unified Faculty District to prioritize the safety of its college students from sexual predators and grant a measure of justice and therapeutic to the victims of Fernando Figueroa.”