Former 5th Grade Teacher Stands Accused Of Molesting 13 Boys
TORRANCE (CBSLA.com) — A one-time fifth-grade teacher at an El Segundo grade school is accused of molesting 13 boys around California, the Daily Breeze reports.
The newspaper said that the alleged molestations occurred in LA and Orange County as well as Northern California.
Jeffrey Thomas Simonek was arrested in late November and is being held on $20 million bail at the Twin Towers Correctional Facility in Downtown Los Angeles.
Simonek faces 20 counts of lewd acts upon a child under 14 years old, stemming from alleged crimes that occurred primarily from September 2011 to September 2012, according to a once-secret indictment obtained by the newspaper.
Two of the boys attended the Center Street School in El Segundo, the Daily Breeze reported.
The newspaper reported that jail records show El Segundo police detectives arrested Simonek on Nov. 26, shortly after the grand jury issued the indictment.
The grand jury indictment, initially sealed and marked "secret," names 13 individual victims, each listed by his first name and initial of his last name, the newspaper reported. Sixteen of the alleged offenses occurred in Los Angeles County, two in Orange County, and two in Plumas County, east of Chico.
Each count alleges Simonek committed a lewd and lascivious act on a boy "with the intent of arousing, appealing to and gratifying the lust, passions and sexual desires of the said defendant and said child," the newspaper reported.
Detectives reportedly began investigating Simonek in August 2012 following an anonymous tip that two boys had been sexually assaulted inside his Center Street classroom.
Police told the newspaper that Simonek also worked at The Painted Turtle, a camp at Lake Hughes for children with chronic illnesses, and volunteered at the South Bay Conservatory, a children's performing arts group in Torrance. He reportedly also had volunteered with Big Brothers and Big Sisters in Orange County.
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