The parents of a 13-year-old girl are suing the San Bernardino Unified School District for her California sex abuse injuries inflicted by a convicted sex offender who seduced and raped her in 2006. They are seeking over $5 million for their daughter's personal injuries.
According to the San Bernardino sexual abuse complaint, Darold Hecht started talking to the girl while working for his father-in-law's construction company. Ledesma & Meyer Construction Co., which is also a defendant in the family's lawsuit, was making the new facilities at Cesar E. Chavez Middle School at the time.
Hecht would go on to repeatedly battered, raped, and sexually abused the girl. Last year, he was convicted of sexually abusing the girl and was sentenced to 24 years in state prison.
Her family's San Bernardino injuries to a child lawsuit blames school officials for allowing the convicted sex offender on school grounds and then failing to properly investigate once they found out about the sexual abuse. The complaint accuses the Rancho Cucamonga construction company of allowing Hecht to work on school property despite knowing about his criminal past.
Child Sex Abuse
If your child was sexually abused while under the supervision of another party, you may have grounds for pursing a San Bernardino County child sexual abuse claim against the assailant, as well as any other persons that allowed the sexual abuse to occur. Your civil case would be separate from any criminal charges filed by prosecutors against the abuser.
Unlike physical injuries, the emotional and mental injuries that are caused by molestation, sexual assault, inappropriate fondling, and rape can be hard to identify. However, the damages that they inflict are very real and can last a lifetime. A sex abuse victim may have a hard time trusting others and maintaining healthy relationships. He or she may be more prone to depression, eating disorders, acting out sexually, drug addiction, sleep problems, academic difficulties, unusual aggressiveness, and suicidal tendencies. Not only can this wreak havoc on the victim's life but also he/she may have to undergo years of counseling, which can be very costly.
Lawsuit filed in 2006 sexual abuse case involving 13-year-old girl at San Bernardino middle school, Los Angeles Times, May 20, 2010
Parents sue construction firm in rape, San Bernardino County Sun, May 24, 2010
Related Web Resources:
Child Sexual Abuse, American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry
