Former LAUSD Teacher Charged with Sexually Abusing Students Pleads No Contest

On Thursday, May 29, a former Los Angeles Unified School District elementary school teacher pled no contest to charges that he molested several students and a relative. The teacher, 58-year-old Robert Pimentel, was a teacher at George De La Torre Jr. Elementary School in Wilmington. According to the authorities, Pimentel sexually abused four female students while working at the school between 2002 and 2012.

As part of an agreement reached with prosecutors, Pimentel, who has been behind bars since January 2013, pled no contest to several charges, including one felony count of continuous sexual abuse and three felony counts of lewd acts on a child. He is expected to be sentenced to 12 years in state prison and will be required to register as a sex offender. He will also be banned from having contact with his victims for 10 years.

Pimentel's case began in 2005 when the Newport Beach Police Department began investigating a sexual abuse case involving four victims. Pimentel was investigated between 2005 and 2007, but did not have charges filed against him. Prosecutors stated that there was insufficient evidence to bring charges.

Allegedly, Pimentel's abuse continued after the initial investigations until March of 2012, when one of Pimentel's students told her mother that he had been inappropriately touching her. After investigating, the Los Angeles district attorney rolled previous charges into the case into the case.