Moraga Principal Won't Be Charged For Mishandling Of Sex Abuse Allegations
MORAGA (CBS SF) -- A Moraga School District official will not be charged with a crime for failing to report a former student's sex-abuse allegations against a science teacher, Moraga police Chief Robert Priebe said Friday.
The school is investigating allegations that former Joaquin Moraga middle school teacher Dan Witter sexually abused a student in the mid-1990s and that then-school principal Bill Walters failed to report the alleged abuse to police, district Superintendent Bruce Burns said.
But Priebe said the case has long surpassed the one-year statute of limitations and that Walters can no longer be prosecuted for his alleged failure to fulfill his role as a state-mandated sex-abuse reporter.
The district's investigation into the alleged failure to report was prompted by a series of stories published by the Contra Costa Times during the past week about the abuse scandal, Burns said.
Walters, who finished his last days working at Los Perales Elementary School in Moraga this week, announced earlier this year that he planned to resign at the end of the school year, the superintendent said.
It has been alleged that in 1994 a former Joaquin Moraga student disclosed she had been molested by Witters four years earlier and that Walters, who was the principal then, did not report it, Priebe said.
Witters committed suicide in 1996 after the Moraga Police Department began investigating multiple allegations that he sexually abused students emerged, the chief said.
Since the story of Walters' alleged failure to report sexual abuse broke last week, at least a dozen parents have contacted the district, and a few have met with the superintendent personally, the superintendent said.
On Wednesday, the superintendent emailed a message to parents addressing the district's investigation.
"As most of you are probably aware, there have been several recent newspaper articles regarding events that occurred in the district in the 1990s. These events included alleged sexual abuse of children," Burns wrote. "This is a very serious issue, as the safety of our children is paramount to the district."
Burns said he immediately launched an investigation into the sex-abuse allegations and the district's alleged mishandling of those claims after Bay Area News Group submitted a public records request last winter regarding the allegations.
Burns said the investigation has now been completed and that "appropriate action has been taken," but declined to comment further about personnel decisions.
"Everybody wants more information and we've got to follow the law ... we can't provide information relative to employees, and that's what it comes down to," he said.
Burns added that the district's "number one concern is always student safety" and touted the district's "long track record" of ensuring staff members are aware of mandated-reporting requirements.
He said the district has tightened its mandated-reporting system during the past 15 years, and that employees at each of the district's schools review those requirements multiple times throughout the school year.
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