 Mark Berndt, 61, arrested on suspicion of committing lewd acts upon a child, faces 23 criminal counts involving children aged 7 to 10 years old. |
Parents of Miramonte Elementary students are feeling shock, disgust and outrage after learning a teacher molested hundreds of small children in the classroom…. and they found out about it in the news.
“It makes me sick to my stomach to know what that teacher did to those children. They should castrate him,” says Rosa Ochoa, the mother of two small children currently attending the school. “You send your children to school with the expectation they’re going to be safe and then you learn something like this. How could this happen?”
Ochoa is horrified that innocent and vulnerable children have been exposed to what she calls a “degenerate pervert.”
61-year old Mark Berndt was arrested at his Torrence home on Monday morning and booked on suspicion of committing lewd acts upon a child. He’s facing 23 criminal counts involving children aged 7 to 10 years old. In those cases, the abuse took place between 2008 to 2010. Berndt is currently held on $2.3 million bail.
According to Sgt. Dan Scott of the sheriff’s Special Victims Bureau, Berndt had been a teacher at Miramonte Elementary School, located at 1400 E. 68th St. for more than 30 years.
The investigation began over a year ago when a film processor contacted the authorities and turned over photographs showing suspected child abuse. In the photos, children were in a school classroom with their eyes blindfolded and their mouths covered with tape. Some images showed children with large live cockroaches on their faces and mouths and girls being force-fed a liquid substance, identified as being semen.
“That teacher traumatized those children,” complains Alicia Salcedo. Her 8 year-old son, who attends Miramonte, was quick to share how the teacher covered the students with roaches. Wide-eyed, he spoke in an accelerated manner while motioning over his body as if he himself had roaches climbing over his small chest. But how did he know what happened? Was he a witness? No. “A friend told me,” he said. Was that friend in Berndt’s class? No. That means news spread quickly on the elementary school campus, frightening many children.
 This is the notice parents received on Tuesday, January 31, the day after teacher Mark Berndt was arrested. |
Parents are also fuming over the fact the school fired the teacher in March of 2011, shortly after the investigation into Berndt was started, but that they only received a written notice the day after his arrest.
“They waited too long to tell us,” complains Salcedo. “I’ve come to many parent meetings at the school and they never told me about this.”
Sgt. Scott says more than 80 current and former students, as well as school employees were interviewed during the investigation. Hundreds of additional photos were found in Berndt’s home and at the film-processing business.
Investigators have identified more than 26 children in 390 photos, but about 10 of them have not been identified.
If anyone knows the identity of other possible victims while Berndt was teaching at the school, they’re urged to call the sheriff’s Special Victims Bureau at (877) 710-LASD; or Crime Stoppers, (800) 222-TIPS.
Lisa Brown received a home energy makeover from Energy Upgrade last Spring.
Insulation added to Lisa Brown’s crawl space prevents dust and cold from coming up into her home.
Los Angeles City Controller and mayoral candidate Wendy Greuel was the guest speaker of the first Urban Issues Breakfast Forum of 2012 held this morning, hosted by Dr. Anthony Asadullah Samad. Titled “Moving toward accountable Government. Who are the real watchdogs,” Greuel was invited to address issues of wasteful spending in the L.A. City government. 
Greuel listened attentively as community members lined up to ask her a variety of questions. When one woman told her she had seen a parking lot full of unused police cars collecting dust, the controller promised to look into it. Among the questions askes: what has shocked her most as controller, why she was running for mayor, what she would do about the Crenshaw metro line if she were elected, and if she thought the City Council should have more members to adequately represent constituents.
As to why she’s running for mayor, she replied: “Nothing comes easy and if you believe, it’s worth taking a risk…. I’m doing it because I think I have the experience to get the job done. In the meantime, I’m going to be the best controller ever.”
The St. John’s clinics are located on the corner of Hoover Street and W 58th Street in South Central.
Jim Mangia
Inglewood Park Cemetery Mortuary. Courtesy of Inglewood Park Cemetery’s website.
Stephen and Johnson, graduates of the Level 2 training program are now working together on a project.
Ivory Chambeshi, Program Administrator of the Business Enterprise Center.
Theresa and Artie Martin listen to consultant Farid A. Haqq about how to expand their business.
The long and complex process to redistrict LA will take one more step forward today when it releases its first draft map of the new districts.
Councilwoman Jan Perry knows someone who was raped.
Teenagers drew and wrote the first thoughts that came to their minds when they read the word “rape.”
Councilwoman Perry looks at what teenagers drew and wrote about the word “rape.”
