2nd lawsuit filed against El Monte Union High School District claiming student sexual abuse

The El Monte Union High School District faces a second lawsuit filed within months of a similar suit, where plaintiffs claim sexual abuse by staff at their former high school. 

Attorneys representing the nine women in the latest suit said the district allowed, cultivated, and protected a "predator playground" at Rosemead High School as decades of sexual abuse continued on the campus.  

"You will hear horrifying stories of students who were abused and when they told their mothers, their mothers told them they were abused at the same school. This goes back beyond four years," attorney Mohammed Abdulla said.  

Three other victims filed a lawsuit against the district on May 6, several months after Business Insider published an extensive exposé on a wide-ranging set of allegations of sexual abuse at the high school.  

That suit describes the district's "systematic failures" to report accusations of child sexual abuse and involves one teacher and two coaches.  

The latest lawsuit announced Wednesday, names five men as perpetrators of sexual abuse and accuses the district of knowing that they were a danger to students at Rosemead High School yet allowing them to continue teaching and supervising students. 

"The type of abuse we are talking about here are men who are kissing the students on campus. We're talking about men who are exposing their genitals to students," said attorney Dominique Boubion.  "We're talking about skin-to-skin touching, groping, we're talking about sexual intercourse ... with 15,16 and 17-year-olds."   

Plaintiffs in the latest suit spoke at Wednesday's news conference, all identified as "Jane Does." 

"Teachers at this school are allowed to do all these horrible things to us without any repercussions. The school district knew of the allegations for decades," Jane Doe 1 said.  "For myself, it was in the 90's. I see people here that are much younger than me, and I can't believe that this was allowed to be taking place this long,"

Attorneys said the magnitude of coverup is "outrageous."  They say child abuse continued for decades and the school district did not protect the girls. Attorneys thanked the journalist who brought the victims' stories to light in the Business Insider article. 

"It never becomes something that you accept, and it should have never happened to any of us, or anyone else out there," said Jane Doe G.  "No student should have to worry about being pregnant by a teacher before they are 18." 

Attorneys are asking what's being done at Rosemead High School, to protect possible future victims. 

"These sexual predators and deviants at Rosemead High School were perpetrating their abuses for years in the late '90s and early 2000s. And with the other cases we already have, that continued up into the mid-2000's," attorney Luis Carrillo said.  

Attorneys said they are asking for justice against the district for protecting predators for years. 

The school district has not yet responded to a request for comment on the allegations.