Sexual Battery Charges Urged Against 2 Youths

Investigators are urging prosecutors to file misdemeanor sexual battery charges against two former students at Newbury Park High School accused of restraining and groping female classmates on numerous occasions, deputies said Tuesday.

A third male student suspected in the case did not cooperate with the initial investigation but is expected to face the same recommendation in a later report, Sheriff’s Lt. Dante Honorico said.

He said the case against the two students will probably be forwarded today to the juvenile unit of the Ventura County district attorney’s office, where prosecutors will decide whether charges are warranted.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Patricia J. Kelliher said she could not comment until seeing the evidence collected in the investigation. Honorico said the boys’ behavior went beyond horseplay and became sexual battery when it continued over the girls’ objections.

None of the students has been identified because they are juveniles, Honorico said. Two of the boys were 16-year-old juniors and one was a 17-year-old senior, he said.

Three girls said they were “sandwiched” between the boys and touched sexually, Honorico said. One of the girls has since declined to cooperate with the investigation, Honorico said.

“Sandwiching is a term (the girls) used, whereby two of the boys would trap one of the girls and fondle them or grope them. Or when it was not a case of sandwiching, they were pinning one of them against a wall,” Honorico said.

The behavior occurred over several months, until the girls reported it to the school district May 4, Honorico said. The board of the Conejo Valley Unified School District last month expelled the three boys for sexual harassment.

The three expelled students were allowed to enroll in the district’s independent studies program to continue their schooling off campus. Supt. Bill Seaver said school officials handled the situation properly.

The district cited a new state law governing sexual harassment in schools in expelling the students. The law defines sexual harassment as unwanted sexual advances that have a negative effect on a victim’s academic performance or educational environment.

During a two-week police investigation, the two boys recommended for prosecution admitted that the incidents occurred, but they told differing versions and perceived it differently from the girls, said Detective Debbie DeMattia, who investigated the allegations.

“They said it was more like horseplay,” DeMattia said.

But because the girls made it clear that the behavior was unwanted, it constituted sexual battery, Honorico said.

“When the boys were told to knock it off, the boys would stop, which would signal they were unwelcome actions,” Honorico said. “But the next day, they would do it again.”

Two of the boys have been cited by police, which is similar to arrest for adults, except that juveniles are allowed to remain in the custody of their parents, DeMattia said. The third was expected to be cited soon, based on the statements of the other boys, Honorico said.

Adults convicted of a misdemeanor offense spend one year or less in jail, Honorico said. Juvenile courts generally are more lenient, he said.