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    Arraignment for LA teacher charged with lewd acts

    Associated Press – Tue, Feb 21, 2012

    LOS ANGELES (AP) — A former Los Angeles teacher charged with taking bizarre, bondage-style photographs of his grade-school students in a case that has brought shock and outrage to the district and the nation is set to appear in court.

    Prosecutors say 61-year-old teacher Mark Berndt will be arraigned Tuesday morning on charges of committing lewd acts against 23 children ages 6 to 10, from 2005 to 2010.

    Berndt, who was a teacher for more than 30 years at Miramonte Elementary, has been jailed since his Jan. 31 arrest. He is being held on $23 million bail.

    The allegations against him and another Miramonte teacher charged with groping two students have led to lawsuits from former students and the temporary removal of the school's entire staff.

     

    23 comments

    • Jessica
      Jessica  •  Irvine, California  •  2 mths ago
      I think it's great that we all care now. I'm sure this kind of #$%$ has been going on since the establishment of lausd. I have small connections to south la teachers and from what I've heard, there has been a constant trend of bad behavior that goes either unnoticed or swept under the rug by none other than the oh so important teacher's union.... The whole district is a scam and until the administration stops hiding behind their lies only to receive the pensions about half of them really deserve, we're going to see more of this come out of the wood work. it's awesome how whenever a new offender is caught, it's a literal "you deal with it, no, you deal with it" dance between the district and the police... it's like two sales people arguing over who's gonna help the old lady, neither of them want to do it, so she ends up getting screwed over. This is not shocking at all. When you have a single district overseeing such a large situation, of course things will go unnoticed. I'd like to be shown lausd's hiring methods, their background check procedures, if there are any in place what-so-ever. I believe that those in charge of hiring these teachers should be investigated. I bet you'd be given a more thorough background check to work at mcdonalds...
    • Josie Buchanan
      Josie Buchanan  •  3 mths ago
      The student who went to the counsler needs to speak up and tell who he or she went to. Then that person needs to be charged with being an accessory to these two pieces of crap. It's time the school system stops placing blame and ignoring things that go on in the schools. We send our children to you in a supposedly safe enviroment and it is your responsibility to ensure they are safe. Not make excuses or have plausable deniability. The school system in the US is not in good shape folks. We have children who "graduate" not knowing how to read on an appropiate level or spell their own names sometimes. We need some change in this system where parents get involved with schools and demand to be allowed in the classroom to monitor things.
    • WOW!
      WOW!  •  3 mths ago
      Still amazes me how he got by with this for so many years One article I read regarding this man a student went to one of the schools counselors and was told by them to stop making up stories, but yet then the school is saying they don't understand why no one came forward. Schools need to learn to listen to the kids and investigate things that they are being told instead of just saying "Oh they're just a kid." My son in elementary school got jumped by three boys in the restroom one time.Another student saw the whole thing and went to my sons teacher to tell her.She never left her class to check if it really was happening but instead punished my son for taking to long in the restroom. The student who witnessed it also told the principle who called each of the boys including my son into his office then called me. He ended up giving all of them including my son the same punishment cause he said there were no adults present to acknowledge what had happened. I told the principle this action was just the kind that would make my son not feel he could go to him if he was having problems.
    • Peach
      Peach  •  Cayce, South Carolina  •  3 mths ago
      ...and why is he still on Earth again?
      • brian
        brian 3 mths ago
        Because he's a liberal.
    • Me
      Me  •  3 mths ago
      MONSTERS!
    • Gary
      Gary  •  Pensacola, Florida  •  3 mths ago
      If he had even a shred of honor he would commit Seppuku.
    • Louie Lou I
      Louie Lou I  •  3 mths ago
      23mil bail ... little hard to come up with the % on that one
    • kmat
      kmat  •  Sunbury, Pennsylvania  •  3 mths ago
      teachers used to teach caused they loved kids and to teach. now they get in it for the money and most of them are d-bags...
    • OfficiousSeeingEyeByatch
      OfficiousSeeingEyeByatch  •  3 mths ago
      Now the kids get to be retraumatized when they learn what was on those cookies. . . what a disgusting human being. Lemme at him!!!!
    • EricH
      EricH  •  3 mths ago
      Why are so many people talking like this #$%$ bag is GAY? His victim gallery had 21 GIRLS and 2 BOYS. Where do you get "gay" out of that? That's like 92% hetero #$%$-bag.
    • Watchdog
      Watchdog  •  3 mths ago
      I hope the teacher union participates in giving information to the DA. Its hard to believe that union members were not aware of what was happening there.
    • Scott
      Scott  •  3 mths ago
      Michael Jackson was innocent.
    • Cahal the Mad
      Cahal the Mad  •  3 mths ago
      Once this libtard is sitting in prison, some celebrity will come along bringing "occupy LA" with them to campaign against the "injustice of punishing one of their own" and the California's liberal justice system will let him out in a couple of weeks and probably even give him his job back.
    • greenman939
      greenman939  •  3 mths ago
      #$%$!!
    • Marxismsucks
      Marxismsucks  •  3 mths ago
      You know Mark Berndt is a good union man, bet they save his job and this POS walks right out of prison back into the candy store. Kids in this country have no rights.
    • Harry
      Harry  •  San Jose De Guaymas, Mexico  •  3 mths ago
      Why all the politics? What does this have to do with Santorum? The guy, if found guilty, will be sent to prison and have lots of boys "play with him". The boys of La M in prison will see that he is well taken care of all the time he is there. As to Michael, since you want to send Maria back to Mexico, I assume you will be returning to Germany. Your swazitka is starting to show.
    • Holly
      Holly  •  3 mths ago
      uh.....where are the parents when these kids are getting into bondage gear and getting their picture taken??????? it's not like they were 17..they were 6-10 years old !!
      • jay
        jay 3 mths ago
        Get real. The "bondage" was with materials like duct tape and the torture rack was a straight chair. It was the nature of the poses and behavior of the teacher that made it bondage-like, not studs and dog collars.
      • Yunalesca
        Yunalesca 3 mths ago
        Holly-You come to one story about a girl who is abused and make disgusting comments. Then I come here and you are still doing the same thing.
      • Kirstin
        Kirstin 3 mths ago
        Holly -- most parents do not accompany their children to school. Where are the parents? Working, probably. You expect schools to be safe places for your children, and kids this age won't recognize the subtext to what was going on and thus won't report it. Which, of course, is exactly why monsters like this prey on children -- they figure they won't get found out.
    • Dave
      Dave  •  Gloucester City, New Jersey  •  3 mths ago
      He fed students his semen, did they test him for HIV? He should also be charged with attempted murder, or poisoning. Oh the joys of the gay lifestyle. I wonder how many of these perverts lurk in public schools?
      • jvkla
        jvkla 3 mths ago
        I'm glad you are enjoying the gay lifestyle. By the way, Mark Berndt isn't gay.
      • Joshua
        Joshua 3 mths ago
        This guy was not living the "gay lifestyle", he was living a sicko perv's lifestyle.
      • Chris
        Chris 3 mths ago
        This guy isn't gay Dave. He's one of yours.
    • Scott
      Scott  •  3 mths ago
      Has he been fired or is he on suspension and awaiting a union hearing?
      • EricH
        EricH 3 mths ago
        So -- couldn't be bothered to even read the first sentence of the story, huh?
    • Mike
      Mike  •  Minneapolis, Minnesota  •  3 mths ago
      Well, he is a registered republican. So, nothing will happen to him. He will just find religion suddenly and all will be well again.
     Post a comment
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