Saddleback High Special-Ed Assistant Pleads Guilty to Child Abuse

By Gustavo Arellano Sat., Jun. 6 2009 at 10:24 AM

Categories: Notes from the Banana Republic, School Daze

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Yesterday, Saddleback High special-ed assistant Alonso Manuel Gonzalez plead guilty to child abuse and endangerment in a case that has dragged on since November yet has provoked no public or parental notification from Santa Ana Unified High School District officials. Prosecutors knocked down Gonzalez's original charge of a felony for a lewd act with a dependent adult to the misdemeanor crime. As part of the plea bargain, Gonzalez will suffer four years of formal probation, serve 240 hours of community service, pay restitution and--lucky bastard--spend one day in jail. May the world know Gonzalez is a SICK pervert for preying on a special-ed student--and that SAUSD officials care so much about children that they never told Saddleback parents about Gonzalez's arrest and probably never will. Oh, and they ignored the warnings of parents. School year ain't over yet, people: call Saddleback High principal Robert Laxton (wait a minute...did the pedo-apologist Tracey Brennan quit or get fired?) at (714) 513-2900 and tell him what the fuck.

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SAUSD Dose = corruption. thats why the disrtriced dont have money. they put it in there pockets. i've seen this person . but they keep hiding him. district is corrupted.
let's hope laxton brings some peace to Saddleback...it's in dire need of a face-lift.
SAUSD = corruption
The Anaheim Union HS District also hired Kathy Scott as principal of the award winning Oxford Academy. Apparently, Kathy Scott was the principal at a middle school in the Santa Monica-Malibu school district when she received a report that Thomas Arthur Beltran had sexually abused a minor child. School administrators have made a public comment that the report of sexual misconduct by Mr. Beltran somehow fell through the cracks. Beltran pled guilty in 2008 and received 14 years in prison for sexual misconduct. The interests of children are ignored while Kathy Scott leaves her former employer to join another school district, without accountability.
Gustavo.. thank you again and to the OC Weekly for honoring the public's right to be informed of child endangerment issues. As California's state budget problems leads the state into more dysfunction than ever realized, children are repeatedly punished for the mistakes of adults, with educational resources cut year after year, while public school administrators who have repeatedly followed politics versus placing the interests of children at their highest priority, collect hundreds of thousands of dollars in salary and pensions, without accountability for wrongdoing. The Anaheim Union HS District does not have a lily white reputation. Public records show that sexual predators employed by the district, were granted special attention from OC law enforcement and the OC District Attorney's office. Public records at www.occourts.org tell a disturbing story about former teachers supervised by the Anaheim Union High School District: 1. Frank Farsad pled guilty to sexual assault of a minor, but the OC District Attorney dismissed most of the charges and he was not required to register on the Meghan's Law website. 2. Carlos Melendez was also found guilty of sexual assault of a minor. At one time as recent as 2007, Carlos Melendez was registered on the Meghan's Law website. His name is no longer found as a registered sex offender. 3. A man by the name of Joseph Farley pled guilty to DUI and if the Joseph Farley is the Superintendent of the Anaheim Union HS District, Dr. Joseph Farley, then it appears the Anaheim trustees felt compelled to hire a superintendent with a recent DUI history. Everyone should be given the chance to rehabilitate, but if they are the same Farley, it appears the DA's office granted another "above the law free pass" to an employee of the AUHSD. 4. It is important to note that both Tracey Brennan and Dr. Denise Selbe (current Principal at Magnola HS), supervised Farsad and Melendez while they were teachers at the district. Dr. Selbe received a fabulous promotion to Asst. Superintendent of Human Resources in 2007 - 2008... with a salary of $150,000 plus. Dr. Selbe returned to a principal's position for the 2008 - 2009 school year. Keep reporting these types of failures to protect precious children... obviously, school administrators keep their jobs while California's budgets self-destruct.
Thanks for the kind words, Eric. This episode was preventable. I still consider Saddleback High School to have unsafe employees that were hired and protected by Jones and her cronies. I have brought them to the attention of Russo, Lopez and Olsky a couple of years ago, and as you can see, Alonso was allowed to remain. Olsky and I had a meeting for nearly an hour in which she took copious notes. Maybe she'll dig those notes out and take more seriously my warnings of two years ago. I am very sorry for what that student went through. It was preventable if district management would have listened and made the right choices.
I wish I could say my employers would do something about this, but they won't.
Mr. Wilson, thanks for doing what you can. My cousin teaches in the district, I have lived in Santa Ana all my life, have a son and plenty of nieces and nephews. This covering up of employees is widespread in Santa Ana. The guy should be put in "the bubble" for at least a year. I know people who became late (or could only pay in part) on child support payments because of job loss and they were incarcerated for 1 year+ The officials at the school should be held as accomplices as well.
Gustavo, I reported this guy when he was first transferred to the classroom I was teaching at Saddleback back in 2004. He was a menace and a threat from the very beginning. Principal Esther Jones protected him and began writing up false reports about me with the help of Vice Principal Evelyn Carrigg. Fred Gomeztrejo joined in on the harassment and eventually I was forced to move to another assignment away from the intimidation to keep quiet and cover up for Alonzo. It was an absolute nightmare that required the drastic step of me hiring an attorney to bring the situation to the district's attention. Juan Lopez was notified on several legal memos that Alonso continued to be a concern. I spent a lot of my own money trying to protect those students. After I was removed from that assignment by Juan Lopez, I see that Alonso finally got caught by some other employee. I still consider that campus unsafe because of several employees who are untrustworthy and abusive those disabled students. Gustavo, I applaud your bringing this case up again and again and not allowing the story to be covered up. It is an absolute travesty that a child was harmed by that man. It's a despicable system that would put up so much effort to cover up child abuse and endangerment. I fought very hard to keep those students safe and out of harm's way. I paid dearly with my health and with my own money because of my duty as a mandated reporter. Alonso was removed from the classrooms with the disabled on a couple of occasions, but Evelyn Carrigg insisted on putting him back in with those vulnerable students. Alonso must pay restitution. I think those superiors who abused their power of authority and ensured his easy access to vulnerable prey, should be held accountable, too.