XPost: school.general, sac.general, talk.politics.guns   
   XPost: alt.gossip.celebrities   
   From: losers@dnc.org   
      
   FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- Turning a blind eye during two decades   
   of abuse by a South Valley teacher and coach has cost a small   
   school district millions of dollars.   
      
   "All of the warning signs were there," said plaintiff's attorney   
   Brian Kabateck. "Everything was there for the school district to   
   know and realize they had someone who was a predator."   
      
   David Blancas might've worn the red jumpsuit of an accused   
   criminal to court in 2012, but after he pleaded not guilty, an   
   Action News reporter talked to a crowd of former students   
   holding him up as a hero.   
      
   Weeks later, investigators tracked down those same students.   
      
   "They showed three pictures of me and then told me if I could   
   figure it was me and I said 'yeah'," E.R. said in a group   
   interview with Action News after the boys filed lawsuits against   
   the school district.   
      
   Secret pornographic images converted four teenaged boys from   
   Blancas defenders to Blancas victims.   
      
   For years at the K-8 Monson-Sultana school, they'd known him as   
   a father figure who was friendly enough to sign their yearbooks -   
    "Thanks for everything, you mack," he signed in one -- and   
   generous enough to fill their homes with candy, clothes, video   
   games, and more.   
      
   "The keys to the car he gave you," R.V. said as he tossed those   
   keys to the man we're identifying as E.R.   
      
   "He gave me a car," E.R. said.   
      
   We are not identifying the boys because the investigation   
   revealed the gifts were all part of a grooming process where   
   Blancas got close to students, then took advantage of them --   
   usually while they slept.   
      
   One of his victims was awake, but just 11 years old when Blancas   
   started a sexual relationship.   
      
   "Their lives will never be the same," Kabateck said. "The school   
   district will never be the same. And it really is unfortunate   
   because this was avoidable."   
      
   Kabateck sued the school on behalf of the boys in 2015 and   
   discovered the first report of abuse by Blancas dated back to   
   1991 -- before several of his victims were even born.   
      
   Kabateck says the district swept the complaint under the rug and   
   then didn't uncover new sex crimes in 2001, eventually exposing   
   more than 20 years' worth of students to abuse.   
      
   "He could've gone on for who knows how long and there would've   
   just been more victims and it would've been terrible," said R.V.   
   "That school was like his feeding ground."   
      
   "And the strong message that we want, that the boys want, is   
   school districts have to be, particularly today, more vigilant   
   and careful," Kabateck said. "Because there is a cost to be paid   
   for not watching what's going on."   
      
   The cost to Monson-Sultana has now added up to $6.8 million in   
   settled lawsuits.   
      
   Blancas is serving a life sentence in prison.   
      
   https://abc30.com/turning-blind-eye-to-teacher-sex-abuse-has-   
   cost-small-valley-school-district-$68-million/3532274/   
       
      
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    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)