Teen Sexually Abused By Wrestling Coach Sues Torrance School District

REDONDO BEACH, CA – A teen who was sexually abused by a former assistant wrestling coach at North High School in Torrance sued the Torrance Unified School District Tuesday, alleging the district failed to monitor and supervise her abuser. The student was abused over an eight-month period in 2016.

Jane RR Doe's Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit also includes as plaintiffs her parents, John J. Doe and Mary M. Doe. In addition to the district, the suit names as defendants North High School and the former assistant coach, Matthew Bautista.

"Before plaintiff was sexually harassed by Bautista, defendants knew that Bautista had engaged in unlawful sexually related conduct with minors in the past, and/or was continuing to engage in such conduct," the complaint alleges. "The school district intentionally ignored multiple complaints about Bautista that allowed (him) to abuse the minor plaintiff."

The alleged failure of the district to supervise Bautista allowed him to molest the girl at the high school and off campus, the suit states.

The suit's allegations include negligence, fraud, sexual harassment, sexual battery, false imprisonment, gender violence and both intentional and negligent infliction of emotional distress. The plaintiffs seek unspecified damages.

A TUSD representative did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

Bautista, 30, was sentenced in March in Torrance Superior Court to five years probation and a year of counseling. He pleaded no-contest to a felony count of having unlawful sex with a student. He was additionally ordered to stay away from the teen, then 16, and North High until 2027.

Torrance police arrested Bautista in October 2016. Bautista became a walk-on coach at North High in August 2012.

City News Service and Patch staffer Emily Holland contributed to this post; Image via Shutterstock