The Redlands Unified School District in California has reached a $2.25 million settlement in a second sexual abuse lawsuit against Laura Whitehurst, a former English teacher, soccer coach, and convicted sex offender.
This recent settlement brings the total amount paid by the District to Whitehurst's victims to $8.25 million, as reported by the Press-Enterprise.
Whitehurst was arrested in 2013 for sexual misconduct. In 2016, the District agreed to a $6 million settlement with a former Citrus Valley High School student who had allegedly impregnated Whitehurst.
The most recent lawsuit was filed in 2021 by a former Redlands High School student who claimed he was sexually abused by Whitehurst in 2007. The plaintiff's attorney, Morgan Stewart, stated that the student alleged that other teachers, counselors, and administrators did not report the abuse to the police.
Stewart expressed satisfaction with the resolution on behalf of his client, but criticized the school district for forcing the victim to undergo litigation. He said, "It is unfortunate that Redlands Unified forced him to go through litigation despite knowing that they had failed to protect him from a serial pedophile." He added, "I would hope they have learned their lesson, but given a significant number of additional recent claims, it is evident that they have not."
The abuse allegedly occurred when the former student was only 14 years old. Whitehurst confessed in 2013 to having sexual relations with the student 10 to 15 times in her classroom and at her Redlands apartment. She later taught and coached at Citrus Valley High School, where she continued to prey on male students. One of these students impregnated her, leading to her arrest on July 1, 2013.
Whitehurst was convicted on four felony counts of unlawful sexual intercourse and two counts of oral copulation involving a total of three victims. She was sentenced to a year in county jail in August 2013, according to the Sun.
The aftermath of Whitehurst's arrest exposed a longstanding pattern of district teachers and administrators actively concealing or failing to report incidents to the authorities. This was revealed during a 14-month investigation by the Southern California News Group in 2018 and 2019, as reported by the Press-Enterprise.
The scandal also prompted an investigation by the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing into a former Clement Middle School principal. The principal reportedly surrendered her teaching credentials on September 1 after it was found that there was probable cause to censure her.
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