Legislation would bar O.C. therapist accused of abuse

A prominent Southern California educational psychologist who was accused of molesting a boy hundreds of times -- yet won his fight to keep his state license to work with children -- may yet be thrown out of his professional field.

The state closed an investigation of Peter J. Ruthenbeck earlier this year because the time since the alleged molestation exceeded the 10-year statute of limitations.

But state Sen. Mark Ridley-Thomas (D-Los Angeles) said Thursday that he has the support needed to pass a law that would allow the state to renew its effort to strip Ruthenbeck’s license.

“As you can imagine, I’m thrilled and optimistic,” said Paula Morgan Johnson, the mother of Scott Johnson, a Denver man who alleges that Ruthenbeck molested him hundreds of times more than two decades ago. The two had been paired in the Big Brother program in Colorado.

Ridley-Thomas said, “To the extent that appropriate revisions can cause a higher level of public safety and accountability in the profession, it’s the proper thing to do.”

Ruthenbeck, a Huntington Beach resident, had worked in public schools in Orange and Los Angeles counties. He was fired last year from his job working with deaf and hard-of-hearing- children in the Los Angeles Unified School District after Morgan Johnson presented an emotional, handwritten letter that was unsigned but bore Ruthenbeck’s name and home address on the envelope.

In it, the writer appeared to acknowledge the abuse.

“What was wrong with me back then is still a part of me today, but it is buried very deeply,” the letter said. “I have learned to not allow myself to indulge in conscious fantasies, but I still sometimes have dreams that I remember when I wake up. I don’t know that there is a way to control this.”

No criminal investigation was launched in Colorado because the statute of limitations had run out by the time Johnson came forward.

He has since started intensive therapy and his mother has become a vocal advocate for official sanctions against Ruthenbeck.

Ridley-Thomas’ bill would require California’s Board of Behavioral Science, which licenses educational psychologists, to file a formal complaint with the state attorney general in cases where a practitioner has been accused of sexual abuse against a minor and there is corroborating evidence. The statute of limitations would be lifted for cases that meet those criteria.

Such complaints are a public record, and practitioners often give up their licenses before the attorney general opens a hearing into the matter.

Ruthenbeck, who is married and the father of two children, once served as president of the California Assn. of Licensed Educational Psychologists.

He could not be reached for comment, and his attorney, B. Robert Farzad, did not return calls. It is unclear if Ruthenbeck is still practicing.

Ridley-Thomas introduced the bill in response to an article in The Times about the Ruthenbeck case. The legislation has cleared the committee process.

“It’s a matter of high priority,” Ridley-Thomas said, “and as soon as the session is convened in January, it will be one of the first matters that I plan to address. I hope that parents will not lose hope, because we will get this done.”

garrett.therolf@latimes.com