Mark Berndt, a former L.A. elementary school teacher charged with blindfolding students and feeding them his semen, is going to prison for 25 years. Accused of spoon-feeding kids cookies laced with his own semen, he agreed to plead no contest to all charges, an attorney for some of the victims said. Berndt plans to enter the legal equivalent of guilty pleas to 23 charges. Teacher Feeds Kids Semen, Will Plead No Contest The plea agreement, first reported by the Daily News of Los Angeles, calls for Berndt to be sentenced to 25 years in state prison for the offenses. John Manly, an attorney who represents 30 Miramonte Elementary School students and their parents, said he was notified of the plea by prosecutors. Manly called the agreement a victory for his young clients and said that the families appreciate being treated “with decency and dignity” by prosecutors. “He’s going to jail essentially for the rest of his life,” he said. “You can’t ask for more than that.” He said that prosecutors urged a plea deal for the disgraced educator because “they were concerned about re-traumatizing the children at trial.” Berndt taught at a south Los Angeles school for more than 30 years. The allegations against him came to light thanks to a drug store photo technician. After dozens of photos of blindfolded third-graders surfaced, he reported them to police. Investigators found a plastic spoon in Berndt’s classroom trash bin. Tests found traces of semen on it. According to prosecutors, Berndt used the semen-coated cookies for “tasting games” with students. He was removed from the classroom in January 2011. Berndt was fired and the Los Angeles Unified School District then paid him $40,000 to drop his appeal of the firing, a move that brought heavy criticism. The district said it was done to quell a threat and get him away from kids immediately, but the payoff was nevertheless controversial for obvious reasons. Dozens of lawsuits and claims were filed on behalf of victims. According to reports. 63 cases have been settled for a total of $29.5 million, and 71 are pending. “We’re focused on the civil cases and settling them in a manner that is respectful of the health and educational needs of students and their families,” he said. The case led to a wide-ranging overhaul of how the district handles allegations of sexual abuse after previous complaints about Berndt were ignored. It also showed how slowly state officials act to censure teachers and led to a flurry of allegations of teacher-student sex abuse in this district and others. Manly denounced the district and its administrators for allowing Berndt to continue teaching after there had been complaints about him in the 1990s. “For all intents and purposes this man murdered these children emotionally,” he said, noting all of the children are in therapy as a result of his actions. Shortly after Berndt’s arrest, the district temporarily removed all 76 of the school’s teachers, along with staff and administrators, putting them on leave. Six months later, when the new school year began, 43 returned to a restructured school with a new principal. The rest either retired or went to new schools. None was accused of any wrongdoing.
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Teacher Feeds Kids Semen Cookies, Pleads No Contest, Gets 25 Years
