Elementary School Girl Assaulted in Bathroom

A sexual assault on an 11-year-old girl in a bathroom at Lincoln Elementary School in Corona del Mar has prompted police and officials there to increase security and require students to travel in pairs to the bathroom.

The student was assaulted about 3 p.m. Monday, 10 minutes before school let out, Newport Beach police said. The girl described the attacker as a white man in his 40s, with brown hair. He was neatly dressed and wore a mask.

Principal Bruce Crockard said the girl went home and told her parents, who contacted police, who in turn notified Lincoln officials that afternoon.

On Tuesday, school officials advised students not to go to bathrooms alone and to report anyone on campus without an identification badge. Crockard said he also reminded staff and volunteers to always wear their identification tags.

“We’re not alarming [the students]. . . . We’re heightening awareness,” Crockard said.

School officials also locked the gate leading from the parking lot to a hallway and ultimately to the bathroom where the attack occurred, requiring students to use facilities closer to the main offices, Crockard said.

“You could lock all the gates,” Crockard said, but “you don’t want to turn school into a camp.”

The school will work with the police to determine when the extra security may be lifted, said Robert Francy, interim superintendent for the Newport-Mesa Unified School District. Some of the precautions may remain in place through the rest of the school year, he said.

Capt. Tim Newman said police were beefing up security around the school and that there would be “an additional uniformed presence.”

The girl also was interviewed by the Child Abuse Services Team, which consists of social workers, a deputy district attorney, a nurse practitioner specializing in detecting physical and sexual abuse and a therapist. Newman said the team found evidence of physical contact between the attacker and the victim.

School officials also sent a letter home with students Tuesday explaining what happened and offering safety tips. And on Wednesday, several parents and students said they were concerned but not fearful.

“It happens everywhere, and as long as I’m with a buddy, I think I’ll be OK,” said one fifth-grade boy.

Lori Cona, who was picking up her fourth-grade son, lauded the school’s efforts.

“The administrators here are really on the ball in terms of the needs of the children, and generally the campus is closed up, so it isn’t really easy getting on, “ she said.

Staff continued patrolling the campus as usual during parent pickup times, Crockard said, and rules requiring visitors to register at the office and wear visitor badges were being more strictly enforced.

Most Orange County schools have safety plans that require visitors to register at the main office, said Bruce Baron, principal at Los Naranjos Elementary School in Irvine. All parents who do volunteer work with children at school need security clearances, he said.

“In 10 years here, I’ve probably talked to five adults who were on school grounds without permission.”

Still, Baron acknowledged, “most elementary schools don’t have fences built around them.” If someone wanted to walk on the campus, “they could do that.”

Times correspondent Steve Carney and staff writer Lisa Richardson contributed to this report.