Palm Springs Unified sued over child molestation

• Palm Springs Unified and Desert Hot Springs have been sued by a victim of John David Yoder
• School district is accused of destroying abuse reports to 'avoid scandal'

A 13-year-old boy who was molested by a Palm Springs Unified special education aide has filed a lawsuit accusing the school district of “turning a blind eye” to the sexual abuse, then destroying evidence in an effort to cover up the fact that at least some of the abuse occurred on school property.

The lawsuit claims that the school district ignored reports of abuse and misconduct implicating John David Yoder, the aide who was later convicted of child molestation. The district later destroyed child abuse reports about Yoder in an effort to “avoid scandal,” the lawsuit states, ultimately making it harder for police to investigate Yoder.

The lawsuit does not explain how the boy's attorneys can back up the allegation that the school district received or destroyed reports about Yoder. Greg Owen, lead attorney for the boy, declined to be interviewed.

The suit also targets Desert Hot Springs, claiming the city did nothing to prevent predators from targeting children at city-run skate parks. Yoder and other members of a child porn ring preyed upon the unsupervised children at these parks by pretending to be from a modeling agency.

Yoder, 43, was removed from the school district last January after he was arrested in what law enforcement called one of the worst child exploitation cases in Southern California in recent years.  Yoder was convicted of 10 felony counts, including child molestation, human trafficking and criminal conspiracy in February, and is now facing more than 20 years in prison.

Desert Hot Springs City Attorney Steve Quintanilla dismissed the allegations as meritless. Palm Springs Unified forwarded interview requests to their attorney, who did not respond to messages left on his phone.

Yoder guilty, faces 'high 20s' sentence for child porn

Prosecutors argued at trial that Yoder, who was a foster parent and adoptive father, used the kids in his care to recruit new victims into a child pornography ring, which preyed upon neighborhood boys in Desert Hot Springs.

Yoder also repeatedly molested a special needs child who lived with him. That boy, whose name is not public because he is a victim of a sex crime, is the plaintiff in the lawsuit that was filed Monday in Riverside County Superior Court.

The lawsuit claims that Palm Springs Unified received reports of sexual abuse or misconduct that “involved or implicated Yoder.” These reports were either received before Yoder was employed by the district or pertained to misconduct from before he was hired, according to the language of the lawsuit, which is not clear. Either way, Yoder was kept in a classroom with children despite the reports.

The suit also says district destroyed “school reports” and Suspected Child Abuse Reporting System reports about Yoder.

“Such actions were motivated by a desire to protect the reputation of (the school district) and to protect the monetary support of PSUSD, while fostering an environment where such abuse could continue to occur,” the lawsuit states.

The allegations in this lawsuit are similar to the findings of a 2015 Desert Sun investigation that revealed how Child Protective Services (CPS) had overlooked signs of abuse in Yoder's home. More than a month before the child porn ring was discovered, CPS received a tip that Yoder was molesting the same child who is now suing Palm Springs Unified. In the resulting investigation, social workers searched Yoder's computer, finding pictures of children — who were not Yoder's children — posing in their underwear. Despite the photos, the investigators closed the case as "inconclusive" and left the boys in Yoder's home. If the investigators had acted differently, the boys may have been rescued six weeks earlier.

They stumbled upon a child porn ring, then did nothing

The boy behind the lawsuit first met Yoder in 2013 while attending school at the Center of Learning and Development, a Palm Springs Unified campus for special needs children in Desert Hot Springs. Yoder, who worked at the center as a classroom aide, quickly took an “unusual interest” in the boy, but the school district did not intervene, the lawsuit claims.

Eventually, the boy’s mother raised concerns that Yoder was spending large amounts of time alone with her son at the center. The school district reprimanded Yoder for spending “too much time” with the boy, the suit states, but Yoder was still allowed to have “direct and unfettered contact” with the child.

It was during this alone time, under the district’s watch at the center, when Yoder began molesting the boy, the lawsuit claims. The on-campus abuse began in January 2013 and continued until July 2013, when the center closed, and both Yoder and the boy were transferred to a different school.

This lawsuit is the first time that it has been alleged that Yoder’s molestation occurred on school district property while he was working with students. The school district has said previously that all of Yoder’s crimes happened off-campus, and that he was never left alone with students. At trial, prosecutors focused on what happened at Yoder’s home, often behind a locked bedroom door, not in the classroom.

Prosecutor: Yoder offered a 'safe haven' for pedophiles

The other known members of Yoder’s porn ring are Erick Monsivais and Noland Harper, who have confessed to their crimes and facing decades in prison. The suspected ringleader, William Clyde Thompson, is denying the allegations in local and federal court.

The porn ring approached most of its victims at one of two Desert Hot Springs skate parks – Frank Hodge Skate Park or Guy J. Tedesco Park.

The lawsuit claims that Desert Hot Springs officials should have known that these parks were “likely to attract” child predators, and therefore had a duty to protect the children that gathered there. The suit also alleges that at least some of Yoder’s abuse occurred at each park.

Quintanilla, the Desert Hot Springs attorneys, said the allegations against the city were meritless because the city “does not keep tabs” on everyone who uses the park facilities. Even if it did, Yoder would not have raised alarms because he was not a registered sex offender at the time.

“It was a tragedy that this pedophile was out in the community without anyone's knowledge other than his helpless victims,” Quintanilla said. “As such, it is a long stretch to assume that the city had knowledge that there was a specific pedophile out there stalking innocent children in or around public property such as the skate park.”

“Suing the taxpayers is certainly not the answer to this tragic situation particularly when the City did not know and could not know the subject individual was a danger to the community.”

Reporter Brett Kelman can be reached at 760 778 4642 or at brett.kelman@desertsun.com. You can follow him on Twitter @TDSbrettkelman.The lawsuit filed Monday also targets Yoder directly. He is scheduled for sentencing on May 18.