Los Angeles Teacher in Child Molestation Scandal Was Subject of Investigation in 1994

Details have started to emerge in the case against the Los Angeles elementary school teacher charged with 23 counts of lewd and lascivious acts on a minor. This morning, more shocking information has surfaced.

In 1994, Mark Berndt, the teacher involved in the allegations, was investigated for allegedly fondling one of his 4th grade female students.

The case was eventually dropped due to insufficient evidence. However, two other former students have come forward and said they reported Berndt to school officials for allegedly touching himself behind his desk during class. Both girls, now in their 30’s, claim they were told by school officials to “stop making up stories,” and their complaints were dismissed.

If the allegations from both the 1994 investigation and the most recent investigation are proven true, the LA Unified School District could face some significant lawsuits for keeping a teacher with a history of complaints in the classroom for another two decades.

In another strange twist to the case, Miramonte Elementary school has confirmed that it has removed a second teacher from the classroom after accusations of molestation were made against him. School officials would not give any details about the second teacher, other than to confirm that a teacher had indeed been removed from the classroom pending an investigation.

School officials did go out of their way to make it clear that at this time there is no physical evidence against the second teacher.

He was removed from the classroom as an “abundance of caution.”