A former Chief risk officer for the Los Angeles Unified School District recently stepped forward to discuss the school district’s alleged destruction of evidence regarding the high-profile Miramonte sex scandal. George Breed, whose contract was not renewed by the district, spoke with NBC 4 about the case.
Breed states that the allegations were revealed to him by an attorney representing the Miramonte victims while he was being questioned under oath. According to Breed, the attorney stated that key documents were removed from the now defunct office of child abuse prevention – which existed from 1988 to 2002 – and were reportedly shredded. The documents were believed to be witness accounts from the Miramonte case. Records from other cases stemming back to 1988 are also believed to have been destroyed after the office was closed.
Breed, whose duties included ensuring that the district remained insured for liability claims, was surprised by the allegations because lewd acts are a risk that risk management should know about. Breed stated that the district may have destroyed the documents to deceive insurance carriers and obtain a cheaper policy.
The Miramonte sex scandal involved Miramonte Elementary School teacher Mark Berndt. Berndt pleaded no contest to 23 counts of lewd acts on 23 students under the age of 10. The allegations of LAUSD destroying the documents comes shortly after the district requested to seal 40 to 50 depositions regarding the Miramonte case.
The Miramonte sex scandal resulted in Berndt being sentenced to 25 years in prison. The civil case – which allows victims and families to recover compensation for the abuse – has cost the district a considerable amount of money. One attorney representing the victims stated that the families and the public have a right to know exactly what happened.
At The Senators (Ret.) Firm, our California sexual abuse attorneys are committed to representing abuse victims and families, exposing injustice, and recovering full and fair compensation. While abuse in any form is a reprehensible act, covering up or concealing abuse or information about abuse is also a wrongful act that should be exposed.