Wrestling Coach Sex Crimes: Cal High, Church Settle For $1.5M

SAN RAMON, CA – The San Ramon Valley Unified School District and New Life Church of Alamo settled for $1.548 million with a victim, who sued for sexual abuse committed by a former coach and youth group leader, Kevin Lopez, a San Jose law firm said.

The plaintiff was a victim in the case brought against the district and church from crimes committed by former California High School head wrestling coach and church youth leader, Lopez, who was sentenced in 2015 to 10 years, eight months in prison after pleading guilty to eight felony counts of lewd acts on children between the ages of 14 and 15 and other related charges, according to the law offices of Corsiglia, McMahon & Allard.

The San Ramon Valley Unified School District agreed to settle for $699,000 in the lawsuit alleging that administration at California High violated mandatory reporting laws by failing to report suspected sexual abuse and by conducting its own investigation after receiving two complaints about Lopez’s sexual improprieties, the law firm said.

In the case against New Life Church of Alamo, the church's insurance company agreed to pay $849,000 to settle the case, $549,000 more than the $300,000 sexual abuse insurance coverage that its insurance policy provided as reportedly "evidence revealed that the church received numerous complaints about Lopez's red flag grooming behavior and not only ignored the warning signs but also allowed Lopez to chaperone kids to camps and mission trips in California and Mexico," said attorney Lauren Cerri, who represented the victim in his lawsuit.

“Lopez was seen cuddling in bed and ‘spooning’ with our client in Mexico and the church did not report the incident," Cerri said. "It took no action whatsoever to stop the easily preventable sexual abuse that occurred after that trip."

The Alamo church also reevaluated and strengthened its child protection policies as a result of the abuse, the firm said.

"Insurance companies continue to pay for the sexual abuse caused by the negligence of school districts, churches and other institutions that are failing to protect our children," Cerri said. “We hope to start seeing school districts and churches taking steps to develop and implement child sexual abuse prevention training rather than relying on insurance companies to pay for the tragic results."

According to the lawsuit, the plaintiff was molested from August 2013 through September 2014, and experienced "great mental, physical and nervous pain and suffering" from the ordeal.

In the case against the school district, the lawsuit maintained that the district did not alert police, but instead conducted its own investigation into a complaint that Lopez had potentially molested children and made no further action. It was a concerned parent's accusation that while Lopez, himself, was a student at the school, he hosted parties with alcohol for middle school-aged children and may have inappropriately touched some of the minors.

The plaintiff's attorney at the time, Robert Allard, said the school district "absolutely should have not conducted its own investigation" after reasonable suspicion was formed.

"First, they are not qualified to do so, as opposed to police officers," he said. "Second, such an investigation is fraught with conflicts."

The lawsuit also contended that New Life Church should have known, prior to the plaintiff's molestation, that Lopez was spending too much time alone with minors, which was not authorized by church-sanctioned outings.

"We hope to use this sad saga as an illustration as to why training on identifying predatory behavior should legislatively be required of all teachers," Allard said. He said he's supporting a current push for legislation to ensure red flags aren't missed. "Too often we have seen that there were warnings signs all over the place and yet educators, as here, failed to heed them," he said.

Lopez was arrested in 2014 by the San Ramon Police Department after it was notified "about a possible inappropriate relationship between an adult male and a minor child."

PREVIOUS COVERAGE:

• Lawsuit Alleges School District, Church Didn't Take Proper Steps to Deter Molestation
• High School Coach, Church Youth Leader Arrested
• 20 Felony Charges Filed Alleging Sexual Misconduct With Teens

--Shutterstock image/Bay City News contributed to this report