Teenage Athlete’s Family Files Claim

Parents of the teenage football player who was allegedly seduced by 50-year-old school fund-raiser Salle Dumm have filed a claim for damages against the school district, alleging their son was emotionally harmed by a conspiracy of school officials who forced him to keep the incident secret.

The claim, filed with the Burbank Unified School District, does not specify the amount of financial damages sought by the family. But the move is the first step toward a lawsuit that could name not only the district but also former school board president Joe Hooven and other players in the Dumm scandal as defendants, said the family’s attorney, Richard Garrigues.

“What the family wants is what’s best for their son, but how that’s going to be achieved we don’t know yet,” Garrigues said Tuesday. “If it winds up as a lawsuit, the only alternative may be a claim for money damages.”

Garrigues said the boy was “damaged psychologically” both by the sexual incident and its aftermath, in which Hooven, football coaches John Hazelton and John Greaves, and tutor Maureen Burke “conspired amongst themselves . . . to prevent [the teen] from informing his parents,” according to the claim document.

Garrigues said the boy continues to receive counseling. He alleged that much of the blame for his troubles may lay with Hooven, who resigned from the board in February after disclosing publicly that he had been told about the alleged affair between the boy and Dumm, but did not report it to authorities because he considered it hearsay.

“It seems Mr. Hooven did not want this matter to proceed, didn’t want anybody to know about it,” Garrigues said. “That’s the issue. The school district was not worried about the boy’s problems, they were only concerned with their own.”

The school district is required to respond to the claim within 45 days, said Assistant Supt. Gregory Bowman.

Board members and administrators said because the claim is a legal action they are barred from commenting on it.

But one high-ranking official said privately that “there is not much merit” to the claim and it is expected to be rejected.

According to police reports and court testimony, the boy was driven to Dumm’s Burbank home one evening last June by Burke, a freelance tutor who worked with the Burbank schools. Once there, the boy drank alcohol with the women and, while Burke was outside, was seduced by Dumm with promises that she, as director of a prominent fund-raising group, would assist his football team financially.

The incident became public in November, when Dumm was arrested on a felony statutory rape charge. She is now awaiting trial.

Hazelton and Greaves each face misdemeanor charges of failing to report child abuse to an immediate supervisor, as school district employees are required under state law.

Prosecutors decided not to file similar charges against Hooven who, as an elected official, was not an employee of the district and therefore did not fall under the law. Prosecutors also declined to file any charges against Burke.