CALIFORNIA
Desert Dispatch
By Charity LindseyStaff Writer
BARSTOW — Barstow Christian School administrators’ recent admission that previous school policy on reporting child abuse was unlawful came just weeks before the release of former school secretary and convicted child molester Kristen Blanton, according to victim lawyers.
While Blanton was set to be released Sunday, a motion filed last month alleges that BCS Principal Heather Bradford knew of Blanton’s inappropriate contact with the 14-year-old male student victim as early as three months before her arrest and failed to report it.
The victim’s attorneys filed the motion in San Bernardino Superior Court to add punitive damages to their lawsuit against the school and Blanton, two years after she was arrested for allegedly molesting the victim multiple times beginning in October 2014.
During deposition testimony last month, according to court documents and the victim’s lawyers, both Bradford and BCS Superintendent and Senior Pastor of Barstow Free Methodist Church Dr. Chris Monroe admitted that the school’s written policy on reporting childhood abuse violates the state mandatory reporting laws.
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