Lawsuit alleges Anaheim Unified High School District failed to report sex abuse complaints against coach

The Anaheim Unified High School District allegedly concealed complaints of sexual abuse and harassment by a former water polo coach who eventually was convicted of the misconduct, according to an amended lawsuit filed Monday by a current and a former student at John F. Kennedy High School.

In addition to the district, the complaint filed in Orange County Superior Court names former assistant water polo coach Joshua Christopher Owens, former Kennedy High School Principal Russell Earnest, former coach Eric Pierce,  Athletic Director David Jankowski, co-Athletic Director Dean Wang and teacher Ian Sabala.

Efforts to reach the defendants were unsuccessful Monday.

Morgan A. Stewart, an Irvine attorney representing the former students, said his clients are seeking unspecified damages.

Owens, 25, of La Palma pleaded guilty in August 2018 to one felony count each of oral copulation of a victim younger than 16 and sexual penetration of a victim younger than 16, as well as six misdemeanor counts of child annoyance. He was sentenced to six months in jail.

Owens was a part-time assistant water polo and swim coach at Kennedy High School in La Palma and a seasonal lifeguard with the Long Beach Fire Department Marine Safety Division, according to Buena Park police and the Orange County District Attorney’s Office.

Owens met the two girls, who were 14 to 16 years old, through his coaching job and sexually abused them from 2014 to 2016  at locations in Los Angeles and Orange counties, Stewart said.

The lawsuit contends two years prior to Owens arrest, a parent reported Owens’ suspected abuse of his daughter to Pierce. Then, a year later, a former student notified Sabala that Owens was alleged to be abusing pupils, according to the complaint.

Sabala, in turn, advised Jankowski, Wang, and Earnest of the alleged abuse, but none of the defendants performed their mandatory duty to report Owens to law enforcement, the suit says.

“In today’s environment, to have five administrators and staff of Anaheim Unified High School District ignore their obligations as reporters under law is abhorrent,” Stewart said. “To have Anaheim Unified High School District then continue to employ Jankowski, Wang and Sabala, despite these failures to report, only reinforces that Anaheim Unified High School District tolerates the abuse of its students and rewards those who fail to report.”

Owens eventually was reported to authorities by another assistant coach, said Stewart, who on Monday requested the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing to investigate the defendants for failing to report under California’s mandated reporter law.

A 15-month investigation by the Southern California News Group found that school districts throughout the region have routinely failed to alert police or child protective services about suspicious behavior between educators and students.

For example, in the Redlands Unified School District in San Bernardino County, a pattern of teacher sex abuse and administrator cover-ups going back more than a decade emerged during the SCNG investigation. Stewart represented most of those victims.

The crisis has been costly for taxpayers. In Southern California alone, teenage victims of sexual abuse in high-profile cases over the past seven years have been paid $312.7 million to settle their lawsuits against school districts.

Increased prosecution would send a strong message to educators about the perils of failing to report suspected abuse, Terri Miller, president of the advocacy organization Stop Educator Sexual Abuse Misconduct and Exploitation, said Monday.

“There should be more severe penalties against those who fail to protect children,” she said. “All of these payouts from school districts (to settle lawsuits) are essentially robbing student education to pay for student suffering.”