LAUSD Seeks Dismissal of Woman's Sexual Abuse Suit

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COMPTON (CNS) - A lawsuit filed by a 42-year-old woman against Los Angeles Unified, alleging she was repeatedly molested by a high school football coach beginning when she was 13 years old in the mid-1990s, should be dismissed in whole or in part for lack of evidence, attorneys for the district state in new court papers.

The woman is identified only as Jane Doe in the Compton Superior Court lawsuit that also names the ex-coach, Michael Edmond, as a defendant. The complaint as it pertains to the LAUSD alleges negligent hiring, supervision and retention of an unfit employee, breach of a mandatory duty, failure to report suspected child abuse, negligent supervision of a minor and negligent failure to warn, train or educate.

"The allegations made by plaintiff against defendant LAUSD in this matter entirely fail to be supported by any admissible factual evidence," the LAUSD attorneys state in their court papers filed Wednesday with Judge Fumiko Wasserman. "The state of the admissible evidence shows that defendant LAUSD was not, and could not have been, on notice of co-defendant Edmond's alleged propensities for criminal conduct amounting to child sexual abuse."

The plaintiff never spoke to anyone regarding the alleged abuses by Edmond and there is no evidence that any witness knew she was underage at the time, according to the LAUSD attorneys' court papers. Not even Edmond's brother, Carl Edmond, who lived for a time with his brother, knew about the alleged molestations, the LAUSD lawyers further state in their court papers.

Doe gave birth to a son in April 1998 who accompanied her to Edmond's home, according to the defense's court papers, which do not identify the boy's father.

In her complaint filed in November 2020, Doe says she was a student at Gompers Middle School when she met Edmond, a Locke High School football coach who immediately began conditioning her.

"Edmond's grooming was calculated with one goal in mind: to get plaintiff to trust him so he could then sexually exploit, manipulate and abuse her," the suit alleges.

The plaintiff alleges that Edmond regularly molested her from the summer in 1995-98. Edmond kissed and touched the teen in front of other students and coaches and abused her in a Locke High administrator's office at least three times, according to the suit, which also alleges he sexually abused her in his van parked at Locke High at least eight times.

Doe alleges the LAUSD "engaged in a concerted effort to hide evidence relating to childhood sexual assault, abuse and harassment perpetrated by Edmond" against other minors before her.

A hearing on the LAUSD dismissal motion is scheduled March 19.

Unrelated to Doe's suit, Edmond, now 59, was charged in September 2019 with seven counts of forcible lewd acts on a child under 14 and one count of committing a lewd act on a child under 14. The charges stem from the time he worked as a cheerleading coach at Athens Park in Los Angeles and allegedly engaged in lewd acts with girls between June 1 and Sept. 1, 2019, according to prosecutors, who said the children range in age from 9 to 12.


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