School Teacher Sexual Abuse

Los Gatos teacher and youth theater director Joseph Houg arrested

Published on: September 26, 2020 | By Cerri, Boskovich & Allard, LLP

Joseph Houg, a teacher at Blossom Hill Elementary School in Los Gatos and director of the Los Gatos Youth Theater, was arrested on September 3rd for felony lewd and lascivious acts and several counts of annoying and molesting a minor. According to Cupertino Today, Joseph Houg also goes by Brian Houg within the community. Houg is 50 years old.

The Santa Clara County Sheriff Department began a months-long investigation after receiving a tip on May 14th that Houg was making sexual advances over Zoom. According to news reports, a 13-year old boy claimed Houg made him feel uncomfortable during a one-on-one Zoom meeting. The boy said Houg persistently asked to see his ab muscles. Despite trying to change the subject multiple times, the boy complied. The victim told police that another child had a similar experience during a one-on-one Zoom meeting call when Houg asked to see a pair of his underwear. As detectives investigated the two leads, another victim contacted authorities to report Houg touched him sexually in 2008. The victim at the time was 12 years old and a fifth-grade student. According to police reports, “the third victim said that Houg pulled the victim’s shorts down during physical education class and touched his abdomen and genital area.” Houg was a fifth-grade teacher and worked at the same elementary school for the past two decades.

Detectives served a search warrant on Houg’s San Jose home. The detectives seized multiple electronic storage devices. They also found “a plethora of behavior indicative of a pedophile.” According to ABC News, Detective Vince Mitre said there is “a video of him pulling a student’s shorts down, recording it, it appeared that the recording device was kind of hidden to a certain extent.” The sheriff department’s statement also included that “Houg had multiple recordings of Zoom meetings of his class performing yoga exercises, videos of young boys changing clothes and videos and images of children in their underwear.”

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Back to school sexual abuse safety tips

Published on: August 21, 2019 | By Cerri, Boskovich & Allard, LLP

Record number of educators continue losing their teaching credential due to sex crime convictions, yet schools are not implementing proactive prevention training.

With the month of August signaling the start of another school year, the San Jose law firm of Cerri, Boskovich & Allard is urging parents and school officials to be aware of teachers who exhibit predatory “red flag” behavior, which almost always precedes the sexual abuse of a student.

“Sexual predators signal their intent to sexually abuse a student by slowly crossing the boundaries established to protect students,” said former San Jose police sergeant and sex crimes detective Mike Leininger. “The reality is that predators are not caught abusing children, but they can be caught breaking rules and crossing boundaries if educators and parents know what to look for.”

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Sexual Abuse Lawsuit Filed Against San Jose Unified School District

Published on: June 6, 2019 | By Cerri, Boskovich & Allard, LLP

Lawsuit states that it took two complaints by Willow Glen Middle School parents for the school to finally act against teacher Clifford Pappadakis.

The San Jose Unified School District is facing a sexual abuse lawsuit filed on behalf of two former Willow Glen Middle School girls, victims of photographs taken by former Physical Education teacher and coach Clifford Pappadakis. The photos, taken unknowingly, showed the girls in compromising and/or sexual positions, with some zoomed in on the minors’ private areas.

Photographs found on Pappadakis’ District-issued laptop included many captioned images of minors in sexually suggestive poses. Pappadakis was criminally charged and convicted in 2018 for possessing child porn and taking sexually provocative photos of his students.

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Educator sexual abuse lawsuit filed against the Union School District and its former top administrators

Published on: January 28, 2019 | By Cerri, Boskovich & Allard, LLP

Lawsuit seeks a court order to force the District to implement proactive preventative measures to better protect students from being sexually abused by educators.

A ground breaking lawsuit filed by childhood sexual abuse lawyers Robert Allard and Lauren Cerri of the law firm of Cerri, Boskovich & Allard alleges that top Union School District officials ignored numerous “red flag” warning signs for almost a decade that then Dartmouth Middle School teacher Samuel Neipp was grooming and sexually abusing his students.

The lawsuit seeks a court order mandating that the District implement new policies that would result in either immediate suspension without pay or termination for all personnel who violate rules or regulations designed to protect children. For example, the lawsuit is asking that all employees communicate with students using only district issued email addresses and that personal communication via phone, text or social media be prohibited. The lawsuit is also requesting that the court mandate that the District educate and train all employees, students and teachers on the grooming behavior of child predators and remove door locks from all teacher’s offices, which are located inside their classrooms.

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San Ramon Valley Unified School District and New Life Church of Alamo Agree to Settle Sexual Abuse Case for $1.548 Million

Published on: January 10, 2019 | By Cerri, Boskovich & Allard, LLP

The lawsuit was filed by the law firm of Cerri, Boskovich & Allard on behalf of a victim of Wrestling Coach and Youth Group Leader Kevin Lopez.

The law firm of Cerri, Boskovich & Allard is announcing a $1.548 million settlement resulting from sexual abuse committed by convicted wrestling coach and youth group leader Kevin Lopez. Attorney Lauren Cerri represented the victim in his lawsuit against both the San Ramon Valley Unified School District and New Life Church of Alamo.

The lawsuit alleged that one year before Lopez was arrested, the administration at California High School in the San Ramon Valley Unified School District violated mandatory reporting laws by failing to report suspected sexual abuse and by conducting its own investigation after receiving two complaints about Lopez’s sexual improprieties. The District agreed to settle the case against it for $699,000.

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Sex Abuse Lawsuit Claims South San Francisco Unified School District Ordered Destruction of Incriminating Evidence

Published on: October 31, 2018 | By Cerri, Boskovich & Allard, LLP

Parent submitted photos of Westborough Middle School teacher Joseph Toy with his arms around a young boy. School principal ordered shredding of photos.

The South San Francisco Unified School District is being sued by the law firm of Cerri, Boskovich & Allard over sexual abuse allegedly committed by Westborough Middle School teacher Joseph Toy.

The lawsuit claims that, many years before Toy’s arrest, a parent caught Toy being inappropriate with a young student and photographed him with his arms around the student. The photos were turned over to Assistant Principal Barbara Bowler. Then-Principal Beth Orofina ordered Bowler to talk to Toy, shred the photos and not document the complaint.

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Palo Alto Unified School District Sexual Misconduct History

Published on: April 18, 2018 | By Cerri, Boskovich & Allard, LLP

From Sexual Abuse to Sexual Harassment

Throughout the years, the Palo Alto Unified School District has dealt with a number of sexual misconduct issues. It has also been the target of a formal letter of adverse findings by the U.S. Department of Education’s Civil Rights unit.

In 2013, an explosive report by the student journalists described an alleged “rape culture” at Palo Alto High School.

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Holding School Districts Accountable in Sex Abuse Cases

Published on: October 24, 2017 | By Cerri, Boskovich & Allard, LLP

Over the years, several school districts enacted “board policies” to bypass the law, which allows child sex abuse victims until the age of 26 to file a lawsuit. The law recognizes that children are sometimes in a better position to file a claim when they reach adulthood. However, many school districts are looking for loopholes to evade responsibility when they fail to protect children from sexual abuse.

Recognizing that school districts were trying to bypass the law, attorney Robert Allard enlisted the help of State Senator Jim Beall. As a result, the state’s Legislative Counsel reiterated that school districts must follow the law and may not adopt policies or procedures to deny child sexual abuse victims a right to justice. The Legislative Counsel is a nonpartisan public agency that drafts legislative proposals, prepares legal opinions, and provides other confidential legal services to the Legislature and others.

The legislative intent of the law, CCP § 340.1, provides that child sex abuse victims are exempt from the so-called government claims act. The act states that one must first give written notice within six months of the injury or discovery of the damage before filing an actual lawsuit in a California superior court, giving the governmental agency time to settle the claim. School districts were trying to use this law to override CCP § 340.1. But the Legislative Counsel is firm in stating that school districts “may not adopt a claim presentation procedure with respect to claims for damages suffered as a result of childhood sexual abuse.”

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Educator Sexual Abuse

Published on: October 13, 2017 | By Cerri, Boskovich & Allard, LLP

The Need for Mandatory Predator Identification Training

Educator sexual abuse is a problem that could be alleviated with prevention training. Currently, the law requires school employees to receive child abuse training within the first six weeks of each school year. Educators may satisfy their training requirements at www.mandatedreporterca.com. However, the training portal fails to address the prevention of educator child sexual abuse by neglecting to provide training to identify the grooming of children.

Although the law is a good first step, much more needs to be done to prevent the type of child sexual abuse seen in both the Morgan Hill Unified School District and the Evergreen Unified School District.

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Sexual Abuse Charges Filed Against Dartmouth Middle School Music Teacher Samuel Neipp

Published on: October 12, 2017 | By Cerri, Boskovich & Allard, LLP

San Jose Dartmouth Middle School teacher Samuel Neipp is facing numerous sexual abuse charges following his arrest. Allegations include using his position of authority to molest at least two students and of the blackmail of one of the students. He allegedly threatened to post nude photographs of the 13-year-old girl unless she kept the sexual abuse a secret.

Samuel Neipp allegedly molested the two girls over a number of years starting when they were both 13. One of the victims is now 16. The other victim is 20. She alleges that the abuse by Samuel Neipp lasted for about two years.

Educator Sexual Misconduct

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