Parents file suit against school district for covering up child molestation

April 8, 2018

The family of a then 9-year-old girl who was allegedly sexually abused by a bus driver filed a lawsuit Friday against the Lucia Mar Unified School District, San Luis Obispo County and the victim’s former bus driver. After victim’s parents reported the alleged abuse, school officials determined the child was lying, and the bus driver continued abusing the girl, according to the court testimony. [Cal Coast Times]

David Kenneth Lamb, 49, allegedly abused the girl, now 11, repeatedly while she was riding on his school bus. Lamb is accused of exposing his penis to the girl, showing pornography to her and penetrating her vagina. Lamb allegedly admitted in an interview to exposing himself to the girl and accidentally showing her pornography, but he denied most of the allegations against him.

According to the suit, at least one of the incidents was caught on the school bus’s security camera. After the parents informed the school of the alleged abuse, a transportation manager said her reviewed the tapes and found no inappropriate behavior.

“Given the security footage mentioned above, this leaves only two possibilities: 1) The supervisor did not bother to fully review the tapes available to her, or 2) the supervisor reviewed the disturbing footage and chose to keep it from plaintiff’s parents, as well as not report it to law enforcement, to protect LMUSD and Lamb from scrutiny and bad publicity,”the lawsuit says.

Last June, detectives arrested Lamb on multiple sexual abuse charges. Lamb is now facing four charges of lewd acts with a child under 14, two charges of sexual penetration of a victim 10 years old or younger and one charge of sending or sharing harmful material with intent to seduce a minor. He has pleaded not guilty to all of the charges.

During a preliminary hearing earlier this year, investigators said Lamb admitted to exposing his penis to the girl twice. Lamb also said he may have inadvertently exposed his penis to her once while he was adjusting his shorts in front of her, and said he may have inappropriately touched her when she either fell into his lap while he was driving or was pushed by another student.

Lamb remains in San Luis Obispo County Jail with his bail set at $100,000. He could face a life sentence if convicted of all of the charges.