Local News in Brief : Former Teacher Gets 6-Month Jail Term
A former elementary schoolteacher was sentenced Thursday to six months in County Jail for fondling two of his students.
Simon Diaz, 45, was also sentenced by Los Angeles Superior Court Judge David Horowitz to five years’ probation and ordered not to associate with female minors unless he is in the presence of an adult.
Diaz, a former teacher at the Gates Elementary School in Lincoln Heights, pleaded no contest in July to two felony counts of lewd conduct with a child under age 14. Charges that he fondled four other pupils were dismissed as part of a plea bargain.
Prosecutors said he fondled the six girls, ranging in age from 10 to 12, in his fourth- and fifth-grade classes from 1985 to 1987.
After the allegations surfaced, Diaz was reassigned to an administrative position with the Los Angeles Unified School District and was later fired.
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