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Second Teacher Accused of Lewd Conduct at South L.A. School Arrested and Identified
Image via Miramonte Elementary
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This week at Miramonte Elementary kicked off with the arrest of Mark Berndt for allegedly feeding semen to his students, and it is ending with the arrest of another male teacher accused of lewd conduct with two little girls.
News that there was a second teacher at the school who had been removed from duty while he was under investigation for lewd conduct broke this morning and now he has been arrested and identified. Martin Bernard Springer, 49, was arrested at around 10 a.m. at a school district building in South L.A. this morning, according to City News Service. Springer is being booked on suspicion of committing lewd acts upon two 7-year-old girls in the last few years, and he is being held on $2 million bail.
The sheriff's department has been asking for tips from the community since Berndt's arrest was announced this week—and one of the tips led to the allegations against Springer.
"Since Wednesday morning, sheriff's investigators interviewed several people, including suspect Springer,'' said Los Angeles Sheriff's Department spokesman Mike Parker. "Meanwhile, suspect Springer was suspended and removed from the classroom by Los Angeles Unified School District officials. Suspect Springer has been under surveillance by
sheriff's detectives since yesterday." LAUSD Superintendent John Deasy said the teacher would be fired next week.
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Parents, as you might expect, are totally freaking out now, if they weren't already before: "I'm about ready to pull my child out of the school, 'cause I don't know, there's just, there's too much going on at this school right here right now, I don't know, so it's a lot of think about,'' parent Latanya Morris told reporters outside the school.
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