North Hollywood Teacher's Aide Arrested, Accused Of Sexually Abusing 6 Children
NORTH HOLLYWOOD (CBSLA) – A teacher's aide at Oxnard Street Elementary School in North Hollywood has been arrested on allegations he sexually abused six young children.
Twenty-seven-year-old Lino Cabrera was taken into custody Wednesday on one count of continuous sexual abuse of a child and five counts of lewd or lascivious acts upon a child, the L.A. County District Attorney's Office reports.
The victims are 10 and 11 years old, prosecutors say. All are students at Oxnard Street Elementary, the L.A. Unified School District disclosed Tuesday.
Los Angeles police first launched an investigation on May 16 after several students approached school officials to report they had been inappropriately touched by Cabrera.
At the time, one mother told CBS2 that she received a phone call from Oxnard Street Elementary Principal Kenny Yau informing her that her daughter was one of the students who had made the allegations.
She explained that her daughter and her friends were talking one day when they discovered they had all been inappropriately touched by the same aide.
"It's a little group of friends," the mother said. "So one started, 'Oh, Mr. --- touched me here.' 'Wait, what? He touched me here too…' So it got around."
She said the group then approached school officials with the allegations.
"They got the courage to go as a group to tell the administrators of the school," the mother said.
Cabrera has been on administrative leave since May 16. He is being jailed on $850,000 bail.
The L.A. Unified School District provided CBS2 with the following statement Tuesday:
"The Los Angeles Police Department notified Los Angeles Unified on Monday of the arrest of teacher's assistant Lino Cabrera on allegations of committing a lewd act on a child. The alleged misconduct involves students at Oxnard Street Elementary School. The employee was removed from the school in May, when the initial allegation was made, and parents were notified at that time.
"The safety and well-being of our students remains our top priority. While recognizing that everyone is innocent until proven guilty, these allegations are extremely upsetting, and we take them very seriously.
"We will remain vigilant in protecting our students from those who would do them harm. We expect every person in Los Angeles Unified to fulfill their commitment to keep our students and schools safe."
Oxnard Street Elementary is a K-5 school located at 10912 Oxnard St.