Janitor Charged With Molesting 11 Schoolgirls

VAN NUYS — A 53-year-old janitor at Kester Avenue Elementary School has been charged with molesting 11 girls in the fourth and fifth grades, authorities said Wednesday.

William Lester Thompson, who has worked for the Los Angeles Unified School District since 1977, pleaded not guilty at an arraignment Tuesday to 11 counts of lewd or lascivious acts with a child, according to police and school district officials.

Police said they began an investigation Friday after two girls complained to school officials.

“They came forward on their own,” said Capt. Ann Young of the Los Angeles Police Department’s Van Nuys Division.

After conducting interviews Friday, police determined that at least six students had been molested, and they arrested Thompson that day, said Officer Marcell Morris.

On Monday, police interviewed five more alleged victims, Morris said. Police said all the girls are ages 9 to 11.

Morris said all the alleged acts occurred on school grounds over the past several months, and in some cases involved inappropriate touching. The investigators declined to be more specific, citing a continuing investigation.

“We feel there may be additional victims out there,” Young said.

Morris also said police are looking into the possibility that victims may have been given drug-laced brownies.

LAPD Det. Felicia Crockett said the girls are now being counseled by school psychologists. She added that a school program designed to alert students to inappropriate sexual behavior may have prompted the girls to step forward.

Crockett said she was impressed by the girls, calling them “strong and united.”

Police said Thompson does not have a criminal record. They said he formerly lived in North Hills but do not know his current address.

Thompson was being held in lieu of $550,000 bail. Neither he nor a representative could be reached for comment.

Thompson had worked at Pacoima Skills Center, an adult vocational school, before starting at Kester Elementary in September 1999 as the plant manager, said Hilda Ramirez, a spokeswoman for LAUSD.

District officials are trying to find out if Thompson worked at other schools or had other contacts with children, Ramirez said. She said he has been placed on forced, unpaid leave.

In response to the Kester case, Los Angeles Board of Education member Julie Korenstein said she has sent a memo to incoming Supt. Roy Romer, asking if the district can implement more safeguards to protect students.

Korenstein noted that in many cases, the suspect has no criminal record.

“All we can do is look at the criminal history,” Korenstein said. “At first sign we have a criminal on our hands, fire them, remove them right away. It is difficult to get much deeper than that. Generally speaking, they are arrested for the first time after we hire them.”

Korenstein, a longtime school board member, said that in the past eight months, she has noticed a surge in district employees being arrested for crimes on campus.

“I don’t know why that is,” she said. “I am hoping we can look at this as a board and see what it means in terms of our security.”

Sandi Barrett, the principal of Kester, said she could not discuss Thompson’s case in detail because it’s a personnel matter.

“This employee is no longer assigned to this school site . . . and will not be returning to this school,” Barrett said.

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Times staff writer Zanto Peabody contributed to this story.