And Another Child Molestation Story

[Guest lance25]

I'd recommend not eating anything while reading this story. Just don't.

 

Bond was set at $23 million Wednesday for a Los Angeles elementary school teacher who allegedly took bondage photos of more than two dozen students in his classroom -- $1 million for each of the 23 counts he faces of lewd acts on a child.

 

The 400 photographs collected by investigators include some showing suspected semen-filled spoons at the children's mouths, a sheriff's investigator said.

 

Mark Berndt, 61, appeared briefly before a Los Angeles judge for his initial court appearance Wednesday morning, represented by a court-appointed public defender.

 

His next court appearance was set for February 21.

 

Authorities arrested Berndt at his home Monday, and charged him with the 23 felony counts.

 

"I feel for those parents and for those babies -- those helpless babies," Wanda Mosley, a resident who lives near Miramonte Elementary School, told CNN affiliate KABC.

 

The chilling accusations were a stunning betrayal for many parents.

 

"I'm angry. I'm disgusted. I'm sad," Kimberly Kirklin told the station.

 

The probe started when a film processor gave investigators "over 40 photographs depicting children in a school classroom, with their eyes blindfolded and mouths covered with tape," a Los Angeles County Sheriff's statement said.

 

"Investigators learned that some of the photos depicted suspect Mark Berndt with his arm around the children, or with his hand over their mouths," it said.

 

Some photos show female students with "what appeared to be a blue plastic spoon, filled with an unknown clear/white liquid substance, up to their mouths as if they were going to ingest the substance," the statement said.

 

Other photos showed "children with large live Madagascar-type cockroaches on their faces and mouths," it said.

 

Investigators, who interviewed more than 80 current and former students and school employees, identified 23 boys and girls then between the ages of 7 and 10 years old as alleged victims in crimes that are believed to have been committed between 2005 and 2010, it said.

 

The young students "didn't realize they were victimized," sheriff's Sgt. Dan Scott said.

 

"They thought they were being blindfolded and gagged as a game," he said. "And they were rewarded with cookies or spoons full of sugar (but) they did not realize the spoon contained semen."

 

The photographs also showed "a large 3-inch cockroach that would crawl on their face," Scott said.

 

A search of Berndt's home found more than 100 more similar photographs depicting children and a video depicting adult sexual "bondage" activity "which mirrored the bondage-type photos of the children," investigators said.

 

The film processor later gave investigators an additional 250 photographs, authorities said.

 

About 10 children seen in the more than 400 images have not yet been identified, they said.

 

The investigation began more than a year ago, officials said.

 

"Early in the investigation, Special Victims Bureau detectives recovered a blue plastic spoon and an empty container from the trash within the suspect's classroom," the sheriff's statement said. "The recovered items tested positive for semen."

 

The arrest came soon after lab testing matched Berndt's DNA with semen found on the spoon, Scott said.

 

Investigators did not reveal the contents of the fluid to the children or tell them that the case involved child molestation allegations, he said.

 

The 30-year teaching veteran was removed from his job at the south Los Angeles on January 7, 2011, the day the sheriff's department told the school district about the investigation, Los Angeles School Superintendent John Deasy said.

 

"I am sickened and horrified by the behavior of Mark Berndt. This individual and his conduct do not reflect on the quality of the teachers who work so hard on behalf of the students in the Los Angeles Unified School District," Deasy said in a written statement.

 

CNN was not able to identify or reach Berndt's lawyer until Wednesday's initial hearing.

 

A neighbor who identified himself as "John" to CNN affiliates told KTLA that he had known Berndt for years.

 

"I said 'My God, he's been kind of freaky all these years I've known him. The way he talks and moves. I said, 'I'm not surprised.'"

Courtesy: CNN, KABC

 

Three things that bother me: 1) no one noticed this? Apparently, a lot of this took place in a classroom. What, nobody walks by and gives a quick look-see? It's a school, not someone's personal house. Also, if this has been going on for at least five years, someone has to know about it.

 

2) Those kids will be scarred for life. Not only were they introduced to sex and BDSM as elementary students, they didn't even know what was wrong with the whole thing. This m-f'er told them that it was a game and that the semen-filled spoons were part of some prize. And to add insult to injury, he tops it off with cockroaches? Crawling on the kids' faces?

 

3) Who in their right mind let this guy out on bond? I don't care how overcrowded your jails are California or how long he's been an "upstanding" citizen, you find room for someone like him. I just hope he doesn't bolt.

 

This crap is disgusting and the fact that it keeps happening is a testament that something needs to be done to remedy this and fast.

[alejr88]

This is absolutely disgusting. I hope this sicko gets 25 to life in prison or better yet execute him. This world cannot have pedophiles like this alive, not after what he's done. I feel terrible for those children who did not realize they were being abused. :cry:

[DJ MC]

Please, watch the Nazi Banksters Crimes Ripple Effect at http://jforjustice.co.uk/banksters

[Grand Concourse]

This is absolutely disgusting. I hope this sicko gets 25 to life in prison or better yet execute him. This world cannot have pedophiles like this alive, not after what he's done. I feel terrible for those children who did not realize they were being abused. :cry:

I think there was some unwritten prison code where the inmates will show no mercy to child molesters/abusers. Execution would be too easy, best leave the inmates to deal their 'justice' on that sick POS.

[Roadcruiser1]

This is all I can say.

 

[NYCtrainfan01]

This dude is the sickest bastard ever. These are just innocent kids. Now they are scarred in their mind for the rest of their lives. He likes BDSM? I'm pretty sure the inmates will give him some of that when he goes to prison. I agree with lance. How can anyone not see this going on? It's a school for Christ sakes. Loads of windows on doors.