Teen boy alleges school district concealed sexual abuse of Yoder

A former Palm Springs Unified School District student has filed a lawsuit against the district, alleging that former PSUSD employee and convicted child molester John David Yoder’s abuse of the boy was ignored and intentionally hidden by the district.

The student, now 13 years old, alleges that during his attendance at Desert Hot Springs’ Center for Learning and Development in 2013, Yoder worked as a Special Education Aide and molested him at the school and at two Desert Hot Springs parks, Frank Hodge Skate Park and Guy J. Tedesco Park.

The suit, which was filed Monday, also targets Yoder, PSUSD director of Special Education Kathy Little — principal of the Center for Learning and Development during the alleged abuse — and the city of Desert Hot Springs for neglecting to protect park guests from “potentially dangerous conditions.”

The suit also alleges there were reports of abuse involving Yoder prior to his hiring by the school district and that no action was taken against him. Further, the district and Little are accused of concealing and destroying SCAR (Suspected Child Abuse Reporting System) reports and Center for Learning and Development reports detailing Yoder’s inappropriate contact with students.

Greg Owen, lead attorney for the plaintiff, was unavailable for comment.

Yoder was on trial through the past year for making teenage boys available for himself and three other men at his Desert Hot Springs home and other locations in the city. He was convicted in February on four counts of lewd acts on a child under 14, two counts of human trafficking of a child, two counts of procuring a child for sex, and one count each of conspiracy to commit child pornography and harboring a fugitive.

Yoder faces a potential of 25 to 30 years in prison, with his sentencing tentatively scheduled for May 18.

In a 2015 PSUSD letter sent to parents after Yoder’s arrest, PSUSD Superintendent Christine Anderson said the district had “not received any reports of alleged incidents involving him with our students while he has been on our school campuses. The charges against him stem from alleged activities outside of the work day.” The letter also states that prior to his hiring, Yoder passed all relevant background checks and fingerprint screening through the FBI and Department of Justice.

Nonetheless, the suit claims numerous incidences of abuse occurred on the premises of the Center for Learning and Development and that Yoder “paid special one-on-one attention” to the student.

The suit alleges that because the student’s mother worked full-time, Yoder would sometimes drive the student to and from school, taking him on multiple occasions to the two Desert Hot Springs parks, where further abuse allegedly occurred. The suit states that the city had a duty to implement supervision at the parks, post warnings of the dangers inherent of locations “likely to attract minor and predators,” and contact authorities as to Yoder’s conduct there.

According to the suit, Yoder threatened to hurt the student and his family if he told anyone of the molestations, which kept him from telling anyone of the abuses until sometime after Yoder’s arrest.