Former Riverside Unified School District Employee Sentenced for Child Molestation

Posted on December 16, 2019     |     Firm News

Convicted child molester Fernando Figueroa was hired by the Riverside Unified School District (RUSD) without a background check. He was hired despite a criminal history of allegedly sexually abusing other minors, including family members, information that was readily available, but not discovered by the absence of a proper background check. He was allowed to be alone with children, sometimes in darkened rooms, in violation of school district policy. Supervisory Personnel at Liberty Elementary School were aware of the allegations of sexual abuse of minors against. Figueroa and failed to report said allegations to law enforcement or child protective services, as they are mandated to do by California law.

Figueroa pled guilty to two counts of lewd acts on a minor under age 14 and one count of oral copulation on a child 10 or younger. He was sentenced to 20 years to life in prison. Attorneys representing his victims estimate that Figueroa abused at least a dozen children at Liberty Elementary School.

In October, the experienced California child sexual abuse lawyers at Manly, Stewart & Finaldi recovered  6.2 million dollars from RUSD on behalf of three Figueroa victims. We are currently representing eight additional alleged victims of Figueroa and their families.