LA High School for the Arts named in child molestation suit

A lawsuit was filed claiming negligence and conspiracy by the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts in allowing a teacher to groom and repeatedly molest a teenage boy starting in 2006.

The teacher named in the case, Javier Armijo, worked at the school for another 10 years after the boy's uncle reported the abuse to the principal -- and continued making calls for several years -- according to the complaint filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court by attorneys at Kabateck LLP and Stevens LC in Los Angeles.

The abuse of the plaintiff stopped after the family intervened, but no one from the school ever reported the case to law enforcement and the boy was even assigned to the same teacher's class in a subsequent year, the lawsuit claims. He did not attend the class.

Armijo later moved to San Bernardino County and taught in other schools before his 2018 arrest - as well as another eight men - in a sheriff's sting operation. They were charged with sending nude photos to an undercover officer they thought was a 14-year-old boy. Armijo was convicted and is now on the sex offender registry.

"Oftentimes, these perpetrators are repeat offenders," said Shant A. Karnikian, managing partner at Kabateck LLP who handles many of the firm's sex abuse cases.

"Who knows how many other victims may be out there, even in this school alone," he said. In this lawsuit, another victim is alleged to have been targeted by Armijo at the arts high school.

"They had enough to put them on notice," Karnikian he said of the school staff, teachers and other employees. Armijo's close association with the victim, touching him, having him alone in a classroom and picking him up after school occurred in front of adult and student witnesses, the lawsuit says.

"This usually causes a lifetime of psychological damage beyond what we lawyers frequently regard as garden variety pain and suffering," Karnikian said. For the plaintiff, "It has impacted every aspect of his life as it often does for these young victims having to stay silent for so many years."

The causes of action are sexual assault; sexual battery; sexual harassment; negligent hiring, supervision and retention; negligent supervision of a minor; negligent failure to warn, train or educate; negligence; breach of mandatory duty.

The complaint seeks general, actual, special, punitive and statutory damages, including penalties and treble damages.

Attempts by email and phone to reach the Los Angeles County Counsel's office for comment received no response by press time Tuesday.
The case is: John Doe 1 v. County of Los Angeles, a public entity; the Los Angeles County Board of Education, a public entity, Los Angeles County Office of Education, a public entity, Javier Armijo, an individual, and Does 1 to 100 (Inclusive), 24STCV28478 (L.A. Super. Ct., filed Oct. 30, 2024).