News Update

Rialto school counselor third to be charged for failing to report student’s sexual assault

Rialto school counselor Lindsay Morton has been charged with failing to report allegations of sexual assault against a student, the third Wilmer Amina Carter High School educator charged in the case for violating the state’s mandated reporter law.

Educators and others are required by law to report suspected child abuse to law enforcement. Morton, as well as Wilmer Amina Carter High School assistant principals David Shenhan Yang and Natasha Harris are accused of failing to report sexual assault allegations by multiple female students against a 17-year-old male student at the school, the Southern California News Group reported Monday.

San Bernardino County District Attorney Jason Anderson told SCNG that this is the first time in the county’s history that public school officials have been criminally charged with mandated reporter violations, which are misdemeanor offenses. Yang and Harris were also charged with a felony county of child abuse under circumstances or conditions likely to cause great bodily injury or death.

Authorities said three female students alleged sexual assault by the offending student, which  Yang and Harris did not report to authorities. After Yang and Harris were arrested, police discovered that one of the alleged victims had also reported to Morton that the offending student had touched her inappropriately. Morton did not report the incident to authorities. Morton remains on paid administrative leave.