Ex-School Janitor Accused of Harassing Teacher

A former Burbank school janitor was arrested Wednesday after he tried to barge into a classroom looking for a third-grade teacher who had refused his advances for two months, Burbank police said.

The incident occurred about an hour after a school employee had ordered Gregory Alegria, 25, of Glendale to leave the campus of Bret Harte Elementary School in Burbank when he interrupted the teacher’s class and asked to speak with her, Sgt. Dan Goldberg said.

Alegria had been obsessed with instructor Dana Cohen, 25, of Sherman Oaks since she began working at the school in September, sending her love notes and flowers, police said.

“It’s a real fatal attraction,” Goldberg said. “The woman was absolutely petrified.”

Alegria returned to the school about 9:30 a.m. and tried to push open a door to a second-grade classroom after Cohen had ducked into the room to hide, Goldberg said.

Teacher Linda Galloway, 31, of Burbank was injured when her arm became stuck between the door and the jamb as she tried to keep the man out, Goldberg said. She sought treatment from a private physician, he said.

A third teacher who heard the commotion ordered Alegria off the campus, police said. He complied but later called the school office, again asking to speak with Cohen, who was giving a crime report to police at the time, Goldberg said. She arranged to meet Alegria at Burbank’s Ralph Foy Park.

When he arrived at the park, she was accompanied by three plainclothes detectives, who arrested him on suspicion of felony battery with great bodily injury, Goldberg said.

Alegria was being held in lieu of $12,000 bail, police said.

He was fired last Wednesday for allegedly harassing Cohen, Goldberg said. He had been transferred to another school about three weeks ago after the teacher complained to school officials.