97th St. 5th-Grade Teacher Accused of Molesting Girls

A fifth-grade teacher who taught for 16 years at an elementary school in South-Central Los Angeles was accused by authorities Monday of molesting 10 girls and illegally paddling four boys during a two-year period.

City Atty. James K. Hahn said that his office had filed a 29-count misdemeanor criminal complaint against Don Ray Moore, 53, a teacher at the 97th Street School and 20-year employee of the Los Angeles Unified School District.

Moore was placed on paid, mandatory leave Monday from an administrative job in the district’s South-Central administrative office. He was relieved of classroom duties when accusations against him first surfaced last March.

The allegations were first investigated by the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office, which found the evidence insufficient to warrant felony charges. The case was then turned over to the city attorney. Moore is charged with 11 counts of child molestation, 10 counts of battery, 2 counts of sexual battery and 6 counts of willful infliction of mental suffering on a child. He faces arraignment on the charges April 1 in Municipal Court.

“We want to prosecute this case very vigorously,” Hahn said.”

The city attorney said the molestation violations involved “touching and rubbing the buttocks, breasts and vaginal areas of girl students, both through their clothing and by direct contact with the skin.”

“We also have evidence,” Hahn said, “that Moore gave some of the victims money, usually a dollar bill, before or after touching them and on other occasions, such as birthdays and when they achieved good grades.”

Moore was not available for comment, but his lawyer, Richard J. Schwab, said his client “categorically denies any wrongdoing.” He said, “There has been a rash of child abuse, sexual and emotion abuse charges leveled against teachers. It has reached epidemic proportions.”

Deputy City Atty. Vanessa E. Place was assigned to prosecute Moore in December after the district attorney’s office reviewed the information presented by the Police Department’s sexually exploited child unit and declined to file charges.

According to Place, the charges against Moore surfaced last March 20, when a boy, not a victim, sent a note to another teacher; when another boy wrote an anonymous note naming five fellow students, and when five students went to Principal Charles Barrett’s office to complain about Moore.

“Based on my independent review of the case, I don’t believe there’s any inherent problems with the evidence,” Place said Monday. “We feel that there is certainly enough evidence to go to trial with in the case and prevail.”

Deputy Dist. Atty. Thomas P. Higgins, in explaining why the district attorney declined to file charges, expressed a different view of the evidence.

Higgins said Deputy Dist. Atty. Jane A. Blissert was assigned to the Moore case last April and spent a month investigating information unearthed by police.

“Based on that (Blissert’s efforts), plus previous evidence from the police, we felt that the evidence did not warrant a filing because we would not be able to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt,” Higgins said.

Blissert found that some students who said they had been molested by Moore later denied it, he said. Also, he said, Moore has not made a statement, there is no medical evidence and some of the allegations were centered in open classrooms with about 30 students present and “no one saw anything.”

In one instance, he said, a student recanted accusations against Moore and talked about overhearing others conspiring to get the teacher. Three students made statements that were proved to be “completely false,” he said.

Times staff writer Elaine Woo contributed to this story.