ROTC Chief’s Lawyer Calls Sex Charges Fabricated : Molestation: The alleged victim’s parents have filed a $10-million suit against the Redondo Beach school district.

The lawyer for an ROTC instructor accused of molesting a 17-year-old Redondo Union High School student said this week that Allen Roth was falsely accused by the girl, who fabricated the charges against him.

The girl’s parents, however, have filed a $10-million claim against the school district, charging that their child was inadequately protected. And in police reports, the girl, a high school senior, alleged that Roth not only raped her repeatedly over three years but also bought her gifts, displayed his affection for her in public and harassed her with telephone calls when she began to avoid him this year.

Roth, a 64-year-old retired Marine from Torrance, was arrested last week by Redondo Beach police after the girl reported to the school principal that Roth had been molesting her since she was 14 years old. Roth has been released on bail, but school officials said he has not returned to class pending the outcome of the investigation.

No criminal charges have been filed by the district attorney’s office. However, Redondo Beach Police Lt. John Nelson said that the case is being reviewed and that Roth is scheduled for arraignment Jan. 8.

According to police reports, the girl joined Redondo Union’s award-winning Junior ROTC program during her freshman year and was a top achiever by her second semester. By the end of the year, she told police, Roth--a retired master gunnery sergeant--”was becoming overly friendly.”

One day during the summer of her freshman year, the girl told police, Roth cornered her in a storeroom on campus and forced her to have sex with him. According to police reports, the student told Roth that he could “get into a lot of trouble over this.” Roth’s reply, the girl told police, was that “she could get into a lot of trouble also.”

Believing him, the girl told police, she remained silent about the incident. But during the next three years, she alleged in the reports, Roth forced her several times to have sex with him, both on campus and at his home. The girl told police that Roth put his arm around her in public, bought her clothing and gave her a diamond and amethyst ring as a gift.

After her most recent sexual encounter with Roth, this past June or July, the girl began to avoid him, and he began to harass her, phoning her at home to say, “I miss you,” “It’ll stop,” and “I think of you as a daughter now,” according to police reports.

The girl told police she “finally felt she had to tell someone what happened.” After confiding in a friend, she reportedly went to Redondo Union Principal Jack Clement, who contacted school authorities and police.

Clement declined to comment on the police report and the subsequent claim filed last week on behalf of the girl’s parents by attorney Robert Mars. The claim alleges, among other things, that the school failed to properly supervise Roth and that as a result, the girl “was repeatedly raped . . . and suffered severe and long-lasting physical and emotional injuries.”

Tony Capozzola, Roth’s attorney, said Roth “denies all the charges and feels he will be vindicated.”

Capozzola said Roth gave gifts to a number of students as tokens of his esteem and “had genuine affection for his students, both male and female.”

“In all his 26 or 27 years of honorable duty, he’s never had anything like this alleged before,” Capozzola said.

“I think there were some things fabricated, and . . . (the girl’s) motive, I think, may have to do with the very large civil lawsuit that has been threatened against the district in her behalf,” he said.

School Supt. Walter Hale said Roth instructed about 60 Redondo Union students and about 30 Mira Costa High School students in a daily ROTC class that stressed leadership and offered students an introduction to the military.

Hale added that the 10-year-old program had won numerous state and regional awards. Roth, known by his students affectionately as “master gunny,” had been with the school district for about six years and was acting as interim commander when he was arrested last Wednesday.

One former ROTC student who graduated last year from Redondo Union said in an interview that Roth had been a popular instructor and had often invited students to help him with paperwork in his storeroom after school for extra credit. The former student said that she had a cordial relationship with Roth but added that during her time in the program, several girls quit ROTC abruptly without saying why.