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Police Searching For Former LAUSD Teacher Accused Of Sexual Abuse

LOS ANGELES (CBS) — A Los Angeles Unified School District substitute teacher investigated three times for alleged sexual misconduct was reported to be on the lam Wednesday after being arrested for exposing himself to a student in Inglewood.

George Hernandez, 45, resigned from the LAUSD in 2007, soon after the third police investigation, and later became a substitute in the Inglewood Unified School District. He was not arrested in connection with the three investigations.

He taught in Inglewood from 2008 to 2010, and at some point during his tenure allegedly molested a 7-year-old girl who was in the second grade, according to the newspaper. The alleged abuse was discovered after an 11-year-old girl reported to police that a man in an SUV pulled up and exposed himself to her as she stood outside LAUSD's Gage Middle School.

Police traced the SUV's license plate to Hernandez and searched his residence, where they found two dozen videotapes deemed inappropriate by police.

The second-grader's mother has filed a suit against Inglewood Unified for failing to take proper precautions to protect her daughter, according to the Los Angeles Times.

"It's part of the reason why we've been very vigorously involved in improving the quality of teaching and learning," LAUSD superintendent John Deasy, who was not with the district when Hernandez was investigated more than five years ago, told CBS2. "It's why we've been dealing with teachers who shouldn't be teaching. Last year alone, you know, we moved and dismissed more than 850 individuals who shouldn't be in the classroom. It's why we've been continually pushing for new teacher evaluation system, and it's why we've believe that there needs to be law changes here in the state."

LAUSD officials allegedly never reported Hernandez to the state credentialing commission, an action that could have prevented other district's from hiring him.

Hernandez is the latest LAUSD educator to be arrested within the past few months for allegedly performing lewd acts on children.

The arrests began with Miramonte Elementary School teacher Mark Berndt, who pleaded not guilty Tuesday to 23 counts of performing lewd acts on a child.

A rally has been planned by community activists on March 6 outside the LAUSD headquarters.

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