More students accuse school officials of covering up sexual assaults at a Rialto high school
RIALTO, Calif. - More students have come forward, accusing school officials at Carter High School in Rialto of covering up alleged sexual assault cases.
The mother of a 15-year-old victim has filed a lawsuit, claiming administrators tried to intimidate her daughter when she came forward to report the crime.
"They kept telling her that if she kept bringing up the subject that she would get expelled," said Stephanie Olvera, the victim’s mother.
"My daughter had reported this student several times, so they were tired of her going to the office and for that reason they kept telling her to drop the subject."
Carter High School assistant Vice Principals David Yang and Natasha Harris were arrested last week, and face charges of child abuse and failure of a mandated reporter to report child abuse or neglect.
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Rialto police say they were not notified of the incident until February 16, even though the 15-year-old girl reported it to school officials in November of last year.
Police also say two additional students, 15 and 16 years of age, have now come forward saying they were also sexually assaulted by the same 17-year-old student. The two students also reported it to school officials last fall. Again, Rialto police say they were never notified by school officials.
Lawyers for the 15-year-old claim that had the district "followed just the basic law, at least two of these girls would have been spared the assault."
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Rialto Unified District Officials say they are cooperating with authorities and conducting their own investigation, but cannot comment on the matter.
The 17-year-old suspect is being investigated by Rialto detectives, but since he is a minor, there is little information available other than he has been released to his family.