February 1, 2012 (by Horatio Algren) According to reports a South Los Angeles teacher has been charged with 23 felony counts of lewd acts with children and the number of victims expected to rise. According to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, former Miramonte Elementary School teacher Mark Berndt age 61 was arrested on Monday and Tuesday charged with 23 felony counts of lewd acts with children. Authorities are still interviewing potential victims and Berndt is being held in the Los Angeles County Jail in lieu of $2.3 million bail.
Sheriff’s officials say that the arrest of Brandt occurred at his home in Torrance after a yearlong investigation. Brandt a third grade teacher for 30 years came under investigation when he turned in a roll of 35-mm film to be processed at CVS in Redondo Beach in October 2010. The employee processing the film found over 40 pictures of children in a classroom that had blindfolds on and tape over their mouths. The employee notified police as required by California Law, which began the investigation.
According to Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Lt. Carlos Marquez of the Special Victims Bureau, some of the photos showed Berndt with his hands over children’s mouths or his arm around them. Lt. Marquez said that it has been determined that the children were given semen on a spoon or on a cookie. If true, this is a sick puppy. A teacher making kids eat semen. In the garbage container from the classroom authorities found a blue plastic spoon that has tested positive for semen. The semen was tested and is a DNA match to Berndt.
Lt. Marquez stated that none of the photos show the children eating the semen, but children that have been interviewed have said they didn’t like the taste. Photos were also found with large, live Madagascar type cockroaches on their face and mouths, according to the sheriff’s department. According to sheriff’s detectives, during a search of Brendt’s Torrance home they found at least 100 other pictures that were similar to the ones from CVS. Later they found an additional 250 photographs from a film processing store. They also recovered a DVD with sexual bondage that was similar to the bondage pictures of the children.
In total, according to the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department Special Victims Unit there have been 390 photos recovered and 26 children in the photos have been identified. There remains approximately 10 children not identified yet. According to LAUSD Superintendent John Deasy in a statement said, the school district is fully cooperating with the investigation. Deasy said he was notified January 7, 2011 of the investigation and Mark Berndt was immediately removed from the school that day. Deasy said the next meeting of the Los Angeles Board of Education after they were aware of the investigation, approved the termination of Berndt. The superintendant said the was horrified and sickened by the allegations against Berndt. Deasy stated that crisis counseling has been provided to the victims and their families for over a year.
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