Los Angeles police have arrested Los Angeles Unified School District middle school teacher Colleen Jo Matarico on charges that she groomed and sexually assaulted a 13-year-old student, and investigators believe there are additional victims who have not yet come forward.

Matarico, a special education teacher at John Burroughs Middle School in the Brookside area, was arrested on five counts of lewd acts with a minor; two counts of lewd acts with a minor 14 or 15 years old; and one count of furnishing marijuana to a minor. The incidents occurred in a classroom and in her vehicle, according to police.

Pattern of Educator Sexual Misconduct

The pattern of behavior described by police is common in cases involving teachers and other authority figures who groom minors in order to gain their trust, child advocates say. An estimated one in 10 students will experience some form of educator sexual misconduct before they graduate from high school, according to a 2020 study published by the Association for the Treatment and Prevention of Sexual Abuse (ATSA).

Key Findings from the ATSA Study:

• Perpetrator Profile: The majority of perpetrators are male teachers or coaches.
• Victim Profile: The majority of victims are female students.
• Grooming Tactics: Common tactics include giving gifts, special attention and isolating victims.
• Reporting and Consequences: Few incidents are reported, and even fewer lead to disciplinary action.

Legal Recourse for Child Sexual Assault Victims

Schools often fail to act to prevent sexual abuse, allowing perpetrators to move between school districts undetected, according to a U.S. Government Accountability Office report. On average, an offender can work in three different districts and harm up to 73 children throughout their career.

“This is a phenomenon of child abuse that we allow to happen under our noses,” said Catherine Lhamon, assistant secretary for civil rights at the federal Department of Education. “It’s something that we’ve known conclusively for decades but we have insufficient collective will as a country to stop it.”

In 2023, California extended the statute of limitations for sexual assault cases, allowing survivors to file lawsuits for abuse that occurred decades ago. This change came in response to the growing recognition of institutional failures to protect individuals from sexual abuse. As a result, thousands of adults who were victimized as children have filed new claims.

Schools can be held legally responsible for negligence if they fail to properly screen and supervise staff or ignore complaints and warning signs of abuse. To protect students, schools must:

• Conduct thorough background checks on all employees, especially those who have unsupervised access to students.
• Verify references, criminal histories, and any prior instances of abusive behavior.
• Provide training on appropriate student-teacher boundaries, recognizing signs of abuse, and reporting procedures.
• Monitor and supervise interactions between students and teachers.
• Promptly investigate any complaints about teacher behavior, including allegations of inappropriate relationships or grooming.

Earlier in 2024, two women who were sexually abused by their ninth-grade social studies teacher at a Los Angeles-area public middle school in 1974 each received seven-figure monetary rewards following settlements of lawsuits filed with the help of attorneys from Waters Kraus Paul & Siegel.

According to the lawsuits, the school district and its staff failed to address warning signs that the teacher was grooming the two girls during the 1974-75 school year. An investigation by the law firm revealed that the teacher engaged in inappropriate behavior, such as public displays of affection, private meetings in a locked classroom, gift-giving, and physical touch.

How We Help Sex Abuse Victims 

Our national sexual abuse lawyers work one-on-one with survivors, offering a direct, personal level of care and discretion. We use our decades of experience battling big organizations to fight on behalf of survivors, aggressively taking on those responsible for causing pain and suffering. If you are a survivor of childhood sexual abuse, we can help.