Hacienda-La Puente School District Sued after David Park Sex Abuse of Young Teenage Girls
David Park sex abuse lawsuits accuse the school district of failing to properly supervise the former Los Altos High School teacher and ignoring blatant “red-flag” behavior.
The San Diego law firm of Estey Bomberger has filed two separate lawsuits in the David Park sex abuse case. In December of 2015, David Park, a 37-year-old former teacher at Los Altos High School, was sentenced to three years for molesting two fifteen-year-old students in 2011 and 2014. He was charged with oral copulation and lewd acts with minors under the age of 16. According to the terms of his plea deal, Park must distance himself from his victims for 10 years, register as a sex offender for the remainder of his natural life, and also pay compensation.
According to investigators, Park engaged in oral copulation with and had sex with his two victims at his house and in classrooms on school grounds. He was only brought to justice when another teacher noticed that one of his victims was upset and asked questions. School officials then contacted the authorities. Park had worked as a teacher at Los Altos High since 2009, and had also been a walk-on football coach at Ruben S. Ayala High School in Chino Hills in 2007 and 2008, and had also taught at Western Christian High School in Upland.
It seems incredible that Park was able to get away with molesting two teen girls, even on school grounds. But that’s exactly what happened. The David Park sex abuse case began with the grooming of his victims in the usual predatory way. Contact with the first Jane Doe (in 2014) began with texting. Over time, the texts became more provocative. Soon Park was asking Doe to send him explicit pictures and to perform sex acts on him. Jane Doe refused physical contact, but did send a few pictures. It wasn’t long before the two were meeting alone in classrooms after school hours to kiss (“make out,” in Jane Doe’s words) and fondle each other sexually. Jane Doe accompanied Park home on two separate occasions, and that was when the oral copulation and sex took place.
Following the the sexual abuse, Park became distant, ignoring text messages from Jane Doe and even asking her not to text him anymore. He was only caught by police in a sting operation when Jane Doe led Park to believe she was pregnant in a pretext call. Police reports suggest that one or more Park’s fellow teachers suspected something was strange about his relationship with Jane Doe, but that they took no action.
Janet Roe, who was abused by Park in 2011 when she also was 15 years of age, remembers that Park began to pay her much more attention during her sophomore year at Los Altos High School. This was in spite of the fact that she had never been one of his students. Park began to ask Roe to come to his classroom during lunch breaks and during passing periods. Quickly, these meetings escalated into physical contact, and not long afterward the illegal and manipulative relationship became sexual. Park and Roe were physically intimate in Park’s classroom, elsewhere at school, at Park’s home in Chino, and even at the beach. The physical intimacy occurred about 15 or 16 times in Roe’s estimation, including sexual intercourse.
Roe expressed surprise that, since Park’s classroom adjoined another teacher’s classroom, no one noticed how much time Park was spending alone with a fifteen-year-old high school girl. Roe decided to come forward with her story after she heard of Park’s arrest in connection with Jane Doe’s case.
If you suspect that a minor is being sexually abused by a teacher, or you yourself have been victimized by a child molester, contact the law firm of Estey Bomberger. Attorney Steve Estey, who represents Doe and Roe, would be interested to hear from anyone else who witnessed Park’s illicit acts or noticed any red-flag behaviors (hugging, kissing, touching, comments, or suggestive texts). If you were one of Park’s coworkers and reported your suspicions to Los Altos administrators or school district officials, please come forward. Also contact us at 1-800-925-0723 if you were a minor who may have been a target of David Park sex abuse as a result of his failed grooming.