Teacher Accused in Molestation of Students Charged With 21 Felonies

A South-Central Los Angeles elementary school teacher, already facing multiple misdemeanor counts of child molestation, was charged Monday with 21 felonies, including sexual intercourse with a 12-year-old.

In the new case, Don Ray Moore, 53, of Redondo Beach is accused of fondling four female sixth-graders at the 97th Street School between 1981 and 1984 and having sex with one of them at his home after she had graduated, Deputy Dist. Atty. Thomas P. Higgins said.

Moore, who had taught at the school for 16 years, was charged last February with molesting 10 girls and paddling four boys when he taught fifth grade from 1984 to 1986.

That case was filed by the city attorney’s office after the district attorney’s office rejected it last December for lack of evidence.

“We did not believe we had a provable case,” said Higgins, who supervises the sex crimes and child abuse unit.

Higgins said the additional incidents were uncovered as a result of further police investigation. This case is stronger, he explained, because prosecutors have corroboration of the alleged victims’ statements, telephone records and a letter to one alleged victim making “reference to some of the activities.”

Two of the four students allegedly continued to get telephone calls and letters from Moore after they went on to junior high school, Higgins said.

Moore’s attorney, Richard Joseph Schwab, who has vigorously maintained his client’s innocence, said it would be “premature” to comment on the new charges since he had not yet been presented with the evidence.

Schwab said Moore, who has been free on $25,000 bail, will surrender for his arraignment, which has not yet been scheduled.

Moore was removed from the classroom when allegations against him first surfaced in March, 1986, and was placed on unpaid administrative leave after the city attorney’s complaint was filed.

The original case, in which Moore is charged with 29 misdemeanor counts, is set for trial Friday in Los Angeles Municipal Court. Moore was later charged with an additional misdemeanor alleging that he tried to intimidate a witness through a telephone call.