Principal ignored earlier allegations in Los Angeles molestation case

The principal of the elementary school where a fourth-grade teacher was arrested on suspicion of molesting 20 students took no action when similar allegations were leveled a decade earlier against the teacher, Los Angeles Unified Superintendent John Deasy says. The teacher, Robert Pimentel, is no longer with the district. He faces abuse charges in connection with alleged incidents at George De La Torre Jr. Elementary in Wilmington, Calif. The Los Angeles Daily News reports that when sex-abuse complaints against Pimentel surfaced in March 2012, Deasy discovered that Pimentel had previously been accused of misconduct in 2002, when he was teaching at Dominguez Elementary in Carson. Pimentel was transferred to De La Torre in 2007. Irene Hinojosa had been Pimentel's principal at both Dominguez and De La Torre. Deasy says he removed Hinojosa from her position last year at about the same time that Pimentel was pulled from the classroom after a review of personnel files showed she hadn't acted on the previous allegations.

Earlier: Former teacher accused of molesting 20 students.