Teacher Accused of Fondling Eight Girls Surrenders to Police

A male elementary school teacher accused of fondling fourth-grade girls during class surrendered to authorities Wednesday afternoon.

Olin Marion Ivey, 47, was charged with touching eight girls between the ages of 7 and 11 at Kingsley Elementary School in Pomona.

The girls told Pomona detectives that Ivey began fondling them last September, but police said in their report of the investigation that Ivey had been warned in the past about touching students. Ivey, a Montclair resident who has taught at Kingsley for three years, was released on his own recognizance by Pomona Municipal Judge Theodore Piatt. A preliminary hearing was set for March 1.

Pomona police and the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office began an investigation last month after several girls told a school nurse that Ivey had reached inside their clothing and touched them.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Robert Kuhnert said that all of the alleged fondlings took place during regular class time, often when students were working at their desks.

One of the eight girls told a detective that Ivey reached through her clothes and fondled her almost every time she approached his desk to ask a question, but that she was afraid to report the incidents because Ivey was a teacher.

According to the police report, Cassandra George, the school principal, had warned Ivey two weeks before the investigation was started to be careful about how he touched his students. The previous principal, Jack Henkle, told police he had “counseled” Ivey a year ago about being overly affectionate with students but had not given Ivey a written reprimand, the report stated.

George refused to comment on the case, as did other school administrators contacted by The Times.