Not first accusation for asst. principal

WATTS (KABC) -- There is new information about an assistant principal at a Watts middle school accused of sexually molesting a 13-year-old female student. The Los Angeles Times says Steve Rooney has been accused before.

Steve Thomas Rooney is in jail and he has been charged on lewd acts involving a 13-year-old girl.

The Los Angeles Times reported Thursday that while he was the assistant principal at Fremont High School he allegedly had sex with a 17-year-old student.

Rooney allegedly had an argument with the girl's stepfather and pulled out a gun. He was arrested for assault with a deadly weapon.

"That bothers me very much. It bothers me a lot because they knew about it," said Carmen Gutierrez, a concerned parent.

In the Fremont High School case the girl allegedly would not cooperate with police and no charges were filed.

Shortly after that Rooney was sent to Markham Middle School in South Los Angeles, where just last week he was arrested again. Community leaders are angry that he was still allowed around kids.

"We are outraged and we are angered. We think it is a shame and a disgrace that you have an administrator, teacher who has been transferred from school to school," said Earl Ofari Hutchinson, L.A. Urban Policy Roundtable.

At the time LAUSD Superintendent David Brewer could not understand how this could happen. "I have no idea, understand that happened before I got here. We are going to be looking into it and find out exactly why he was apart of the district."

The LAUSD issued a statement Thursday:

"Upon learning this case, Superintendent Brewer last week ordered an internal investigation into the district's handling of this case to ensure that all policies were being followed, and to determine where policies and procedures can be improved."

Parents say that it is not enough. "They should of done some type of evaluation before they sent him here," said a concerned parent.

"We want to make sure that we let the L.A. Unified School District know that we don't want the schools in South Central Los Angeles to be a dumping ground for these type of administrators or teachers," said Eddie Jones, L.A. Civil Rights Association.

Rooney is currently in jail charged with some very serious felonies -- kidnapping, aggravated sexual assault on a minor. Bail is set at $1 million.

 

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