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Latest Legal News from the Criminal Courts of Los Angeles, California and the U.S.
August 28, 2009
Former Assistant Principal Pleads to Molesting Students
LOS ANGELES – Former assistant principal Steve Thomas Rooney pleaded no contest today to sexually molesting four young female students while he worked at two different Los Angeles Unified School District campuses.
The 40-year-old Rooney pleaded no contest to one count of lewd act on a child under 14, one count of unlawful sexual intercourse, and two counts of lewd act on a child between 14 and 15 involving all four victims he was charged with molesting.
Deputy District Attorney Darci Lanphere of the Sex Crimes Division said today’s plea means the victims will not have to confront him during a trial. “This means he’s appropriately punished for the horrible acts he committed,” she said.
Two victims, one 13 and the other 14, were sexually molested between January and March 2008 while they were students at Markham Middle School, Lanphere said. The other two victims, both 15 when the molestations began, were students at Foshay Learning Center. Rooney sexually molested one victim over a two-year period beginning in October 2005. The other victim was molested over a two-year period beginning in June 2004.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Marcelita V. Haynes ordered Rooney taken into custody immediately after he entered his no contest plea. He is expected to be sentenced to eight years in state prison when he returns Sept. 15 for sentencing.
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