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View Winners → Top Posts Apr 29, 2021
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A 29-year-old woman is suing Los Angeles Unified, alleging she was sexually molested years ago by her English teacher while she was a student at Alexander Hamilton High School and enrolled in the same magnet program as the married teacher’s three children.
The plaintiff is identified only as Jane Doe in the Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit, which alleges sexual abuse of a minor, sexual harassment, intentional infliction of emotional distress, failure to report and various causes of action for negligence. She seeks unspecified compensatory damages as well as punitive damages against the teacher, Barry Smolin, a co- defendant in the suit whom she alleges used alcohol and drugs to entice her to continue their relationship.
An LAUSD representative issued a statement regarding the lawsuit.
“We have not been served with the suit and we do not comment on pending litigation,” the statement read. “However, the safety and well-being of our students remains our top priority.”
Doe began attending Hamilton High as a freshman during the 2006-2007 school year, in which Smolin was her English teacher through the humanities magnet program, the suit states. Smolin, near the end of Doe’s first year, gave her a copy of a CD of music he made, which was the start of his process of grooming and conditioning her with the ultimate intent of sexually abusing her, the suit alleges.
Smolin told Doe during her sophomore year that he “adored her” and that hugs between the two of them were “mandatory,” according to the suit.
During Doe’s junior year, in 2008-2009, Smolin began sending messages to the plaintiff on social media and talked to her at school about books and music, the suit states. He gave her another CD as a gift and played songs from the disk on his Sunday night radio shows, telling Doe, “That was for you,” the suit states.
Smolin also uttered “secret coded messages” to Doe during the radio broadcasts and became more openly affectionate with her on campus, the suit states. Smolin’s relationship with Doe became “a worst-kept secret at Hamilton” High because their behavior towards each other at school was so open, the suit states.
By Doe’s senior year, Smolin’s grooming “achieved its singular purpose” and he began sexually abusing her numerous times in his car and at school, including in his classroom during lunch, then later at two motels, the suit alleges.
During one incident of abuse at school, another teacher walked in and Smolin “literally threw plaintiff off of him and onto the seat next to him,” the suit states.
Smolin used alcohol to convince Doe to continue having an inappropriate relationship with him and also provided her with drugs, including marijuana and salvia, the suit states. He once gave Doe $300 to buy LSD and told her she could sell it “for a profit,” the suit states
Smolin began taking Doe to two motels for further sexual abuse and continued providing her with alcohol and drugs at those locations, the suit alleges.
While Smolin was sexually abusing Doe, he was in his late 40s, married and had three children, all of whom attended Hamilton High about the same time as the plaintiff and who were in the same humanities magnet program, the suit alleges.
