School reacts to Santa Monica teacher’s arrest

Officials at Lincoln Middle School in Santa Monica brought in counselors and extra security personnel today to ease concerns of students and parents after the arrest over the weekend of a popular 60-year-old teacher suspected of molesting four of his female students.

Thomas Arthur Beltran, a Los Angeles resident, was taken into custody Saturday and remained jailed in lieu of $1.1 million bail, police said. Beltran, who has worked at the school for two decades, teaches English as a second language.

“Our biggest concern is that all of this is a difficult thing for students and their families,” said Mike Matthews, assistant superintendent of human resources for the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District. “If you’re having a difficult time, we have assistance.”

Matthews said seven extra counselors were brought in. He said attendance at the 1,100-student campus was 10% to 15% lighter than usual.

He declined to discuss any specifics of the case. But a meeting with parents, school officials and police is scheduled for 7 p.m. in the school’s auditorium.

Students said teachers had talked with them about Beltran’s arrest during their morning classes.

“Some teachers were sad because they knew him,” said Lucas Benacerraf, 14, an eighth grader. “It’s weird because he had a family and children. I had him a couple of times as a sub. He just seemed like a normal guy.”

Mercedes Hernandez, 45, whose son is a seventh-grader at the school, said she first learned about Beltran’s arrest from another parent on Sunday night.

“Your kids spend more than six hours here and we think nothing’s ever going to happen to them,” she said, pointing to the campus behind her. “Santa Monica has good schools, a good reputation, and suddenly you hear this. So sad. I’m very surprised.”

Police announced Beltran’s arrest at a news conference Sunday. They said the alleged molestations occurred during school hours and that in at least in one case, the alleged abuse continued for more than a year.

Beltran, a 30-year employee of the school district, was taken into custody after a rapid investigation that began Friday when the parents of a 12-year-old student of his brought her to police headquarters, said Lt. Dan Salerno. The child had told her parents that Beltran molested her, and she repeated her account to detectives, Salerno said.

Investigators interviewed Beltran’s other students and identified three others who allegedly were victimized, the lieutenant added.

“We believe there are more victims,” he said. “And we are asking anyone who is a victim to come forward.”

Dianne Talarico, superintendent of the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District, said police contacted her Friday and asked for the names of classmates of the girl who came forward. She said police told her that they spoke with children at their homes Friday evening.

Padilla said some questions remained unanswered. “We don’t know exactly where [the alleged molestations] occurred,” he said. “Some of them may have occurred outside the classroom and out of other people’s views.”

Citing the ongoing investigation, Padilla declined to say what acts the alleged molestations involved.

A call to Beltran’s home Sunday was answered by a woman who identified herself as the sister of his wife. She had no comment, other than to say that the family was trying to find an attorney for him. Beltran has been married for 35 years, according to public records.

He teaches English as a second language to seventh-graders. His daughter, Jennifer, had followed in his footsteps and became a middle school teacher in Northern California before her death from cancer four years ago at the age of 30. A scholarship fund for underprivileged youngsters was established in her name.

George Lopez, 33, who was married to Jennifer for nearly five years and has known the family for about a decade, said he was shocked to hear of Beltran’s arrest. He said he last saw Beltran about three years ago, when he traveled to Los Angeles for the first anniversary of his wife’s death. Jennifer was Beltran’s only child, Lopez said.

He said Beltran had been very family-oriented, loved photography and was “a great all-around person.”

“Very, very difficult to believe,” Lopez said of the allegations. “I mean, he’s been the least likely person I could think of, of everybody that I know that is in a position like that, who would do something like that.”

Christina Hobkirk, wife of Lincoln Assistant Principal Carl Hobkirk, said she felt the same way. The Hobkirks have had three children attend the school.

“I don’t know what evidence they have or anything like that, but it just doesn’t seem possible,” Hobkirk said. “I just think that it can’t be.”

She said she and Beltran spoke often about the loss of a child after the seizure-related death of her 18-year-old daughter last June.

“He’s such a nice guy,” she said. Her husband could not be reached.

Debbie Mulvaney, the mother of an eighth-grade boy at the school, said she also was stunned by the accusations. “I’m totally surprised,” she said. “The school has a fabulous reputation.”

The case follows the recent arrest of a former assistant principal for the Los Angeles Unified School District. Steve Thomas Rooney, 39, who last worked at Markham Middle School in Watts, has been ordered to stand trial on charges of molesting three students.

District officials transferred Rooney to Markham just months after he had been investigated for allegedly having sex with a student and pulling a gun on her stepfather.

 ari.bloomekatz@latimes.com

tami.abdollah@latimes.com