A fourth staffer at a Los Angeles elementary school is under investigation for inappropriate conduct with a student after the boy's mother went public with a classroom aide's love letters to her fourth grade son.
The Los Angeles Unified School District confirmed to ABC News today that Areceli Luisjuan, a teacher's aide, was investigated for writing the letters to the boy in 2009. A spokeswoman for the district confirmed that Luisjuan had since been fired, but did not specify when the firing occurred.
Luisjuan, who is described by the Los Angeles Times as a woman in her fifties, allegedly wrote that she liked it when the boy put his arm around her and was sad when she was transferred to another school because she would not be able to see him anymore.
In one of her three letters, the aide wrote, "When you get close to me, even if you give me the chills I like that. Don't tell nobody about this!"
The mother of the boy spoke anonymously to the LA Times, telling the paper that she had brought the letters to Miramonte Elementary School administrators and was told she was making up stories. She took the letters to the Los Angeles Sheriff's department, but was told to take up the issue with the school, according to the Times.
Luisjuan was not able to be reached for this story.
News of the allegations comes on the heels of two arrests of Miramonte teachers charged with molesting students and an accusation that a third teacher helped enable the abuse. Outraged parents say the school had a history of ignoring sex abuse allegations.
The school has been closed Tuesday and today as its entire faculty is being replaced and interrogated by school officials. The school will reopen Thursday.
Last week, Mark Brendt and Martin Springer were arrested and charged with committing lewd acts on students. Brendt is accused of blindfolding students, feeding them semen, and putting live cockroaches on their faces and taking pictures. Springer is accused of inappropriately touching a female student.
On Monday, a third teacher was accused by attorney Brian Claypool, who represents three alleged victims, of delivering students to Brendt for sexual abuse. Claypool said he reported the unnamed teacher to the sheriff's department. The sheriff's spokesman would not comment on the investigation.
One of the two girls who accused Springer has recanted her testimony, according to the Los Angeles Times.
An attorney representing alleged victims said the school had a systemic problem of abuse because of teachers that preyed on children of single-family homes.
Keith Davis, who is representing three victims in the case against Berndt. He previously represented three kindergarten-aged students from Miramonte who pressed charges against Ricardo Guevera, a teacher who was eventually convicted of molesting the girls and sentenced to 15 years to life in prison.
Davis said that in his previous case, Guevera told at least one little girl who was from a single-parent home that he could show her what it was like to have a father.
"Evidence in the Guevera case was introduced that Guevera targeted female kindergarten students who lived in a single mother home. He manipulated them by attempting to be their father figure," Davis said.
The comments mirror the allegations of current victims represented by Claypool, who said that Berndt tried to lure one female student to his home by saying he could be her second father.
Davis noted that in a civil suit brought against Guevera, the school district,a and Miramonte, the plaintiffs were awarded $1.5 million.
"You would think after the prior allegations, and civil judgments in excess of $1.5 million, you would expect Miramonte to be the safest school in the country. In fact it's just the opposite," he said.
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