Jury selection to begin in trial of former teacher

Bryce Alderton

Jury selection is set to begin Tuesday in the trial of Jason

Abhyankar, a former teacher in the Ocean View School District who was

arrested in April 2000 on four felony counts of child molestation.

Abhyankar, 27, also faces 19 counts of lewd acts upon a child and

could be sentenced to a maximum of 14 years in prison if convicted.

He has pleaded not guilty to the charges.

The Huntington Beach resident was a fourth-grade teacher at Village

View Elementary School from September 1997 to June 1999 when he resigned

without giving a reason.

Abhyankar most recently worked for three months at Portola Hills

Elementary School in Trabuco Canyon in the fall of 1999.

A boy in Abhyankar’s Portola Hills class allegedly complained about

improper behavior by the teacher and the boy’s parents soon notified the

school and police.

Police conducted an investigation and found other boys at Portola

Hills and Village View with similar complaints.

Parents of one boy from Ocean View and two from Portola Hills sued the

Ocean View, Saddleback and Newhall school districts in April, contending

that Ocean View school officials wrote positive recommendation letters

for Abhyankar even though they suspected him of acting improperly.

The civil lawsuit is still in its initial stages and seeks $60 million

in damages.

“We have begun taking depositions from the plaintiffs and in turn will

give them depositions when the time comes,” said Gary Gibeaut, defense

attorney for the Ocean View School District, who wouldn’t comment further

on the allegations.

The suit claims the two districts should not have given

recommendations for a teacher they had problems with, and that Saddleback

should have investigated Abhyankar’s background more thoroughly.