Attorney: LAUSD Knew About 'Predators', Intentionally 'Did Nothing'

PASADENA (CBS) — A Southland attorney on Friday called for a federal investigation into alleged sex crimes at a Los Angeles elementary school.

KNX 1070's John Brooks reports lawyer Brian Claypool even reached out to the President and Michelle Obama to ask them to initiate a federal probe.

Claypool has filed a lawsuit on behalf of 11 families whose children were allegedly abused by teacher Mark Berndt at Miramonte Elementary.

"There needs to be a criminal investigation to determine whether top officials at LAUSD knew about Mr. Berndt, knew about other teachers who were predators at schools throughout LAUSD," said Claypool. "They intentionally decided to shuffle those teachers to other schools or they did nothing."

After contacting the White House about his claims, Claypool received a letter from the local office of the Federal Bureau of Investigations encouraging the public to come forward with any information they might have to confirm the allegations.

Claypool even singled out LAUSD Superintendent John Deasy by name and recommended that he hire former FBI Director Louis Freeh — who just completed his investigation of abuse allegations at Penn State University — to look into abuse and misconduct charges district-wide.

"I'm going to ask John Deasy, 'show me the money, dude'," said Claypool. "I want you to take some of this money at LAUSD and you go take that money and you go pay former FBI Director Freeh to do the independent investigation of Miramonte that we've been waiting for for six months."

He indicated the FBI is close to officially announcing an investigation and urged anyone with information on any incidents involving LAUSD teachers to contact the FBI.