District to review whether other child abuse cases went unreported
Santa-Monica-Malibu Unified officials try to ease concerns of parents after revelations that a teacher jailed on molestation charges had been accused but not charged in 2006.
Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District officials are trying to make sure no other child abuse allegations went unreported to the district, in the wake of allegations that a middle-school teacher charged with molesting five students had been investigated but not charged two years earlier.
"We need to do a districtwide assessment on all our windows and all our doors, and find out if our classrooms are safe as they can be," Assistant Supt. Mike Matthews told more than 100 parents at a meeting Thursday night at Lincoln Middle School. "We have begun that process."
Thomas Arthur Beltran, 60, who is married and worked at Lincoln for two decades, was arrested Saturday after a 12-year-old student told her parents he had abused her, and they notified police. He pleaded not guilty Tuesday to 14 felony counts of sexual molestation: 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. All the alleged incidents occurred in Beltran's classroom, police said.
The charges include an incident in 2006 that was reported to the principal; at the time, police investigated, but prosecutors said there was insufficient evidence to file charges.
According to court documents, the alleged abuse of the students took place as long ago as Dec. 1, 2004, and as recently as last month. Police said that at least one incident was recorded on a videotape that was discovered during the investigation.
On Thursday, the Los Angeles County district attorney's office said police were questioning at least five additional people who alleged they were sexually molested by Beltran, perhaps as far back as 1998.
School Board President Oscar de la Torre said Thursday that a "breakdown in communication" had prevented school and district officials from being aware of the teacher's record.
At Thursday night's meeting, parents angrily questioned district and middle school officials about the 2006 investigation.
"There was a warning sign here. This should have been on everybody's radar," one parent yelled.
District officials said they were informed of the 2006 investigation a week ago; on Tuesday police turned over a letter from Lincoln's then principal about it. The letter was given to Lincoln's administration and the school board, and was made public Wednesday.
