Delayed Report on Child Abuse Suspect Probed

The district attorney’s office has launched a criminal investigation to determine whether school authorities violated any laws by taking more than a year to tell police about a teacher accused of child molestations.

Under state law, it is a misdemeanor for school officials to fail to alert law enforcement officials when they suspect that a child has been sexually or physically abused.

Meanwhile, the Los Angeles Unified School District has launched its own investigation into the delayed reporting of accusations that Terry Bartholome, 48, molested some of his female third-grade students during the year and a half he taught at the 68th Street Elementary School, according to Ron Apperson, the district’s legal adviser.

Apperson said the findings would be reported to an executive session of the school board next week.

Officials to Be Interviewed

Apperson said the district attorney’s office has requested interviews with 14 school district officials, including the chief of the district’s police force.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Steve Sowders, head of the prosecutor’s special investigations division, confirmed that an investigation was in progress but declined to provide details.

Bartholome was removed from his teaching position in January. He was dismissed from the school district in February and arrested in May. He has been charged with one count of rape and 27 counts of molestation and lewd conduct.

A preliminary hearing to determine if Bartholome should go to trial began July 9 but has been recessed until next week. He is in custody in lieu of $200,000 bond.

Although the first molestation allegation against Bartholome was reported by school Principal Alice McDonald to regional school administrators in the fall of 1983, it was not until a year later that the school district’s police department and the Los Angeles Police Department were informed of the reported incidents, according to school district spokesman Bill Rivera.

He said McDonald failed to notify police apparently because she thought that regional authorities would do so, but they did not.

McDonald and Sidney A. Thompson, the associate superintendent who did notify police last fall, are among the district officials that the district attorney’s unit would like to question, Apperson said.

Among the others, according to Apperson, are Richard Green, chief of the district’s police force; William Anton, deputy superintendent of schools; Daniel Austin and Stuart Bernstein, region administrators for the area, and Phillip Jordan, the former region superintendent who is now superintendent of the Pasadena Unified School District.

Jordan was not available for comment. The others said they have been advised by Apperson not to comment on the case.

In addition, the names of former region personnel, 68th Street administrators and principals at schools where Bartholome had previously taught are on the district attorney’s interview list, Rivera said.