Teacher Lafayette arrested on suspicion of child abuse

The Lafayette School Corporation and the Lafayette Police Department are now investigating a teacher Lafayette Jefferson High School. The teacher is accused of inappropriate behavior towards a number of children. Four female students at Lafayette Jefferson High School reported to LPD late last week that a teacher there had sexually touched them and spoken to them inappropriately.

Les Huddle, the superintendent of Lafayette School, told News 18 that the event was first reported to school authorities late Wednesday night. Superintendent Huddle couldn’t give me much information, including the name of the accused teacher, because the investigation with the Lafayette Police Department is still ongoing. He forgot to say if there were four different events or just one involving four different people.

The alleged instructor is currently not working, according to Huddle. He also claims that there were no problems with the teacher before. According to the superintendent, they have a pre and post plan for this kind of situation. Huddle stated, “We are now in that post position. “ensuring that information is provided to and support is given to families and children. Preparation means teaching our students that it is okay to tell someone.”

Teacher Lafayette arrested on suspicion of child abuse

This is evident from a civil lawsuit that has been filed Contra Costa Supreme CourtLafayette School District staff became aware of a popular Stanley Middle School teacher who fondled female students before the teacher was arrested in 2010 for sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl. The girl who Michael Merrick was found guilty of sexually assaulting his class over a four-month period is suing the school system, Superintendent Fred Brill, Stanley principal David Schrag and former teacher Michael Merrick.

The March complaint seeks general damages, punitive damages, and reimbursement for past and future medical expenses. Merrick, 49, avoided trial on 25 sexual charges involving the young person by entering a plea deal to six felonies in January. Before he received a prison sentence of five years and eight months, he confessed to the abuse in a statement to the court. In Delano at North Kern State Prison, Merrick completes his term.

In the lawsuit, the victim’s and her parents’ attorney, Rick Madsen, alleges that Merrick was in the past “inappropriate contact with female students.” In particular, Madsen wrote, Brill, Schrag, the district and its employees were previously made aware of complaints about Merrick and were informed and knew, or reasonably should have known, that Merrick had previously and repeatedly touched and fondled other female students at Stanley Middle School. “ He alleged that staff members are breaking laws requiring them to report abuse.

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In a phone conversation, Madsen stated: “We are not prepared to comment on the potential for further casualties. The Lafayette School District would have prevented this if they enforced their own rules, which is outrageous.” Brill stated in an email that the precinct disputes the allegation that staff members knew of previous fondling with Merrick, but declined to report it to authorities, despite Brill not commenting on the case as a whole.

The Lafayette police chief did not answer a call. The district has provided this publication with dozens of documents pertaining to the internal management of Merrick’s arrest. However, the publication is still pushing for a police report from Lafayette. In response to the Times’ Public Records Act request.

brill stated, “The district is deeply concerned that providing the report to you would reveal parts of it that could affect the child victim (Jane Doe) and others, all of whom are still in the general area and many of whom being a minor. “In our opinion, simply changing their name will not solve this problem. “As far as the district is aware, there have been no other complaints of ‘misconduct’ or ‘inappropriate behavior with students’ involving Merrick other than those of the young victim.”Jane Doe.

When Merrick was detained in October 2010, he had spent years teaching math in Stanley’s wood shop. The abuse took place in Merrick’s wood shop classroom during privately funded math lessons from the child’s parents, and Merrick had forced the victim not to disclose it.

Numerous text messages Merrick sent to the victim’s cell phone containing sexual themes were among the evidence collected by Lafayette Police Department detectives. The lawsuit alleges that despite the fact that paying instructors to tutor district students is strictly prohibited by school district policy, school administrators knew that Merrick and other teachers allowed and even encouraged it.

Lafayette math teacher Jeff was transferred to Tecumseh Junior High this year after being accused of groping a student in May 2019. He was arrested this week. https://t.co/2m1AITh7yh

— Dave Bangert (@davebangert) March 6, 2020

For over a decade, Merrick in particular coached students on campus unnoticed. Merrick’s 2010 arrest sparked significant community attention, and in a court document dated June 30, 2011, Madsen alleged that locals had begged police to identify the child victim. Madsen stated that the plaintiff “suffered great mental anguish and rightly feared public vengeance, humiliation and disgrace.”

A Contra Costa judge issued an unprecedented order to close the courtroom to the public should the victim ever take the witness stand after an online news article about a private police investigation compromised the girl’s confidentiality.

According to Madsenthe plaintiff “has suffered and continues to suffer significant pain in body and mind, shock, emotional distress, shame, loss of self-esteem, loss of intimate personal relationships, disgrace, humiliation, and loss of enjoyment of life.” The next hearing will take place in the Contra Costa Superior Court on November 2.

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