Pretrial begins for former Ocean View teacher

Angelique Flores

A pretrial hearing for the case against former Village View Elementary

School teacher Jason Abhyankar is set for Friday in Superior Court

Central Justice Center in Santa Ana.

Abhyankar, 27, was arrested in April 2000 on four alleged counts of

molestation. At the time he was teaching fourth grade at Portola Hills

Elementary School in Trabuco Canyon.

A boy in Abhyankar’s class at the Portola Hills allegedly complained

about improper behavior by the teacher. The boy’s parents notified the

school and the police, who conducted an investigation. Police officials

discovered other boys at Portola Hills and Village View with similar

complaints.

Upon completion of the investigation, Abhyankar was arrested. He faces

19 counts of lewd acts upon a child. The Orange County District

Attorney’s office filed charges relating to four allegations of sexual

molestation.

Abhyankar could be sentenced a maximum of 14 years in prison if

convicted. He has pleaded not guilty.

Abhyankar came from Canada, was a student teacher in Boston before

coming to California. He landed his first teaching position at Newhall

Unified School District in Los Angeles before coming to Ocean View. He

taught fourth grade at Ocean View from 1997 to 1999 until he moved to

Saddleback Valley Unified School District in the fall of 1999.

Ocean View School District is also facing a lawsuit in connection with

the allegation against Abhyankar.

Parents of one boy from Ocean View and two from Portola Hills are

suing the Ocean View, Saddleback and Newhall school districts contending

that Ocean View school officials wrote a positive recommendation letters

for Abhyankar even though they suspected him of acting improperly.

“The district was aware that he was acting improperly with boys and

had numerous complaints,” said David M. Ring, the attorney representing

the three students. “I believe they had a strong suspicion he might be

molesting boys.”

The district agreed to give him a positive letter of recommendation in

exchange for his going away quietly, Ring said.

Michael Luker, Ocean View’s assistant superintendent of human

resources, declined to comment because of the pending litigation and

because it involves a personnel matter.

But even before Ocean View, Newhall had problems with Abhyankar,

according to the lawsuit. After not hiring the teacher back for a second

year, they also gave a positive recommendation.

The lawsuit says the two districts should not have given

recommendations for a teacher they had problems with, and Saddleback

should have better investigated Abhyankar’s background.

Not giving those recommendations could have prevented further

molestations, Ring said.

“Without that letter [from Ocean View], Saddleback doesn’t hire him,”

Ring said.

The civil lawsuit, filed in April, is seeking $60 million in damages.

Abhyankar is scheduled for a jury trial beginning July 16.