Five more Santa Monica molestation complaints come forth
Authorities are investigating new allegations made against a Santa Monica middle school teacher. He was arrested Saturday and has been charged with molesting five of his female students.
Officials said today that they are questioning five additional people who complained that they were sexually molested, perhaps as long ago as 1998, by a Santa Monica middle school teacher who has been charged with molesting five of his female students.
"At least five more victims have come forward and are being interviewed by police right now," said Jane Robison, spokeswoman for the Los Angeles County district attorney's office.
Lincoln Middle School teacher Thomas Arthur Beltran, 60, pleaded not guilty Tuesday to 14 felony counts of sexual molestation, including eight counts of a lewd act on a child, three counts of continuous sexual abuse and three counts of sexual penetration with a foreign object on a child under 14.
According to court documents, the alleged abuse of the students took place from as long ago as Dec. 1, 2004, to April 30 of this year. Police said at least one incident was on a videotape that police obtained in a search during the investigation.
On Wednesday, officials said the teacher had been investigated by police, but not charged, in connection with the same crime in 2006.
"There was a lack of evidence at the time to file charges," Robison said. "But based on new allegations, new victims and more evidence, sufficient evidence was developed to include the previous alleged victim" in this case.
Officials of the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District released a letter Wednesday that outlined the 2006 incident. The letter, dated March 14, 2006, was written by then-Principal Kathy Scott to police and detailed her response to the incident. Police gave district officials a copy of the letter this week, said Mike Matthews, district assistant superintendent for human resources.
The letter states that a female student reported to Assistant Principal Francis Costanzo that she "felt uncomfortable being in Mr. Beltran's class because of the way he touched her." Scott removed the student from the class and talked to Beltran about the incident, the letter says.
Beltran "was shocked at the accusation and was upset that his actions had been misinterpreted as inappropriate," according to the letter. Scott wrote that the teacher was warned "not to touch any of the female students in his class in order to protect himself from any further misinterpretation."
