Rialto Assistant principals David Shenhan Yang and Natasha Harris charged for not notifying police about alleged sexual assaults by student
Posted on February 24, 2022 | Sexual Abuse
Assistant principals David Shenhan Yang, 38, and Natasha Harris, 37, were both charged with one felony count of child abuse under circumstances or conditions likely to cause great bodily injury or death as well as two misdemeanor counts of failure of a mandated reporter to report child abuse or neglect.
The DA’s Office said. “In this case, the assistant principals’ failure to report sexual assault on their campus erodes the trust that students and parents alike should have regarding the safety and protection of all the children in their care,” said District Attorney Jason Anderson in the press release. “Their failure as mandated reporters to notify law enforcement lead to further victimization of two students, and the sexual assault of a third victim, which was preventable.”
The felony charges against the officials were decided on because the “inaction” of Yang and Harris caused “further abuse of victims,” said Jaquelyn Rodriguez, spokeswoman for the District Attorney’s Office.
Yang and Harris were arrested at the high school Wednesday at 12:55 p.m., according to San Bernardino County jail records, and both were being held on $150,000 bail.
A 17-year-old student at Wilmer Amina Carter High School in Rialto accused of multiple sexual assaults on other students faces criminal charges. The two assistant principals were charged with of being aware of the alleged child sexual assaults since November but not disclosing them, authorities said.
According to police, the Rialto Police Department was made aware on Feb. 16 that the 17-year-old boy had been sexually assaulting a 15-year-old girl several times over the past three months on school grounds. When detectives investigated the allegations, they learned that two other girls, ages 15 and 16, were also sexually assaulted by the suspect, police said.
In a press release, the San Bernardino County District Attorney’s Office said that one of the victims reported an assault to school officials in November, but police were not informed until last week. It was also learned that another victim reported an assault to officials in September, but the police were not informed of it either, the District Attorney’s Office said.
“The reason for the delay in reporting from school officials to the Police Department is also under investigation,” the Police Department said in the release.
The Rialto Police Department asked anyone who may have information related to the incidents to contact Lt. James Mills at 909-820-2632. Witnesses can also anonymously report information through WeTip at 800-782-7463.
Manly, Stewart & Finaldi has represented hundreds of child sexual abuse victims of teachers and coaches in California schools and Universities. We have secured settlements totaling more than $40 million for families of victims abused in the San Bernardino County schools. We were the lead attorneys helping sexual abuse victims in recover $852 million from the University of Southern California. We are also the lead attorneys representing Olympic athletes and victims of former US Olympic Women’s Gymnastics Team Doctor Larry Nassar and secured $890 million in settlements for our clients. We secured a $243.6 million settlement on behalf of sexual abuse victims at UCLA.In each of these cases we have helped victims and families get justice by conducting a thorough investigation of the organization and the school . We secured a settlement of $140 million on behalf of 81 child sexual abuse victims at Miramonte Elementary School in Los Angeles. This was the largest child sexual abuse settlement by a public school district in history. In many cases we have discovered that administrators and executives know that the perpetrator was a danger to children and either did nothing or actively covered up the crimes.