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Teacher at Another LAUSD Elementary School Arrested for Sexually Abusing Kids
Photo by Jo Martin Pix via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr
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LAUSD has a long road ahead to deal with the aftermath of the Miramonte scandal, and it would probably help if the tide of sexual abuse allegations against their employees began to stem. But unfortunately, that doesn't seem to be happening: another teacher has been arrested on charges of lewd acts against children, this time at Telfair Elementary School in Pacoima. Paul William Chapel, 50, is accused of abusing four children while working as a third grade teacher at Telfair, reports City News Service. Chapel allegedly abused three girls and one boy between 13, 2010, and April 15, 2011, using force and threats of violence with one of the girls. All of the children were under the age of 14.
At least one of the victims is a Telfair student, the Daily News -- which broke the story -- reports.
Chapel was arrested on October 8, 2011, but neither parents, teachers at the school nor (perhaps unsurprisingly) the media were informed of the charges against him.
Curiously, LAUSD Superintendent John Deasy, who has been rabid about cleaning up Miramonte, gave this almost dismissive comment to CBS2 about what's happening at Telfair:
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"We have 120,000 full-time, part-time and substitute employees," he said. "The overall majority are phenomenal people, but there are individuals, just like in a city of 120,000 people, who do wrong things. They do things on their off hours and then they get into difficulty and if they, you know, if they are crimes they get arrested for it."
The allegations come on the heels of sexual abuse charges against two Miramonte teachers and one janitor at an LAUSD elementary school in Chatsworth.
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