Suit by Molested Girl’s Family Says Simi Did Not Follow Policy : Courts: They contend the Youth Employment Service did not advise her to take a parent to a job interview.

The family of a Simi Valley girl who was molested during a job interview has sued the city, alleging that its Youth Employment Service did not advise her to bring a parent to the interview, as its policies require.

Bruce G. Bernhart, a former KNX radio news anchor, pleaded no contest in August, 1991, to molesting the girl, then 13, when she visited his Simi Valley home two months earlier to talk about a baby-sitting job.

Because the city-operated Youth Employment Service sent the girl to Bernhart, the city was served Monday with a lawsuit filed in Ventura County Superior Court, the family’s attorney said.

The girl’s family seeks unspecified general damages and reimbursement for medical and legal expenses. The family earlier this year filed a claim against the city, estimating damages at $500,000. City officials rejected the claim, which must be filed before a lawsuit is brought against a city.

The attorney, Leonard S. Levy, said the job service staff should have warned the girl not to visit a potential employer’s home by herself.

“It is my understanding that it was their policy at the time to advise youngsters to have an adult accompany them to the initial baby-sitting interview,” Levy said Wednesday. “They simply didn’t do so in this case.”

City officials said they are still reviewing the incident and have not yet determined whether the girl was told of the policy.

She told Simi Valley police that she went to Bernhart’s home to interview for a job baby-sitting his two children. During the interview, Bernhart, then 39, said he wanted to play a game. He blindfolded the girl and then touched her in a sexual manner, the girl told police.

After her parents reported the incident, Simi Valley officers arrested Bernhart while he was in the midst of an evening newscast at the KNX studio in Hollywood.

Bernhart, who resigned after his arrest, was sentenced in November to 90 days in jail and five years of probation.

Levy said the teen-ager is still undergoing treatment for psychological injuries. He said her family has “gone through a very devastating type of situation. It is something no family would wish to go through.”

Mayor Greg Stratton said that at the time of the molestation, the Youth Employment Service had a policy of advising youngsters to bring a parent or other adult along to a baby-sitting interview.

He said he did not know whether city staff members gave that advice in the Bernhart incident.

“You do run the risk of the kid not telling the parent they are supposed to go along,” the mayor said. “Or the parent could say they don’t have the time to go along.”

After the incident, the city added a new rule requiring youngsters to obtain a parent’s signature acknowledging that he or she has seen the recommendation regarding adult supervision at baby-sitting interviews, Stratton said.