Former LA teacher charged with molesting 23 children

[News_Editor]

Former LA teacher charged with molesting 23 children

2012-02-01 18:49:35 GMT+7 (ICT)

LOS ANGELES (BNO NEWS) -- U.S. prosecutors have arrested and charged a former Los Angeles teacher with allegedly molesting at least 23 young children over a two-year period, officials said on Tuesday. The allegations have shocked the local community.

Mark Berndt, 61, was arrested on Monday at his home in the City of Torrance after an investigation which began about a year ago. He had worked as a teacher at Miramonte Elementary School in Los Angeles for more than 30 years until he was fired last year when police launched an investigation.

According to prosecutors, the investigation began in March 2011 when a film processor discovered about 40 photographs depicting children in a school classroom with their eyes blindfolded and their mouths covered with tape. The photos were turned over to law enforcement who identified the adult in some of the photos as Berndt.

Some of the photographs depicted young girls being fed with a blue plastic spoon which was filled with a white liquid substance, believed to be the suspect's semen. "There are also photos of children with large live Madagascar-type cockroaches on their faces and mouths," the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department said in a statement.

In addition to the 40 photos turned over by the film processor, detectives also found more than 100 similar photographs at Berndt's home, where adult pornography was found which mirrored the bondage-type photos of the children. An additional 250 photos were later recovered from the film processing establishment.

So far, investigators have identified a total of 26 children but at least 10 other children are yet to be identified. Of those identified, 23 boys and girls between the ages of 7 and 10 years old have been identified as the victims of crimes which were allegedly committed in Berndt's classroom between 2008 and 2010.

Berndt, who allegedly told the children it was a game, faces 23 felony counts of Lewd Acts Upon a Child and is due to appear in court on Wednesday. His bail has been set at $2.3 million.

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