A private school in La Cañada Flintridge is being sued for allegedly failing to prevent a past student from being sexually abused by one of her teachers - for years.
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Now 25 years old, the woman identified only as Jane Doe said when she was 15, her 31-year-old Latin teacher at Flintridge Preparatory School began pursuing her.
"He showered me with compliments and gifts. He told me I was special, more mature than my peers, and that we had a secret world together no one else could understand. He spent hours with me throughout Flintridge Prep's campus. He emailed me incessantly into the night, and eventually, he told me we were in a relationship. His teacher groomed me, cultivating a space in which he could manipulate me, isolate me, and abuse me. Meanwhile, an entire community watched and did nothing to stop him," she said.
Her attorney, Randy Renick, said the teacher demanded his client keep the abusive behavior a secret, and she complied, but on the Flintridge campus, it was an open secret.
It was during her sophomore year in 2013 when the alleged abuse began, and Renick said, "His grooming campaign would consume every aspect of her life for the next six years. His emails began at the start of her junior year. There were 82 in the month of September alone. He groomed her with all kinds of intimacies."
According to the lawsuit, at least one high-level administrator expressed concerns to the school's headmaster about the teacher's interactions with Jane Doe, only to be advised not to jump to conclusions.
A spokesperson for Flintridge Prep tells KNX News the teacher was fired after an investigation and that they believe this was an isolated incident.
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