LOS ANGELES (AP) — A former Los Angeles elementary school teacher was arrested after he allegedly gagged and made bondage photos of nearly two dozen children — possibly inside a classroom, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said Tuesday.
A department statement said Mark Berndt, 61, was arrested at his Torrance home on Monday and remained jailed Tuesday on $2.3 million bail.
The district attorney’s office said Berndt has been charged with committing lewd acts with 23 boys and girls ages 7 to 10.
Berndt worked for more than 30 years at Miramonte Elementary School in an unincorporated area of south Los Angeles before being fired.
The investigation began when a film processor gave authorities some 40 photographs depicting blindfolded children in a classroom with their mouths taped shut.
Some of the photos showed Berndt with his arm around the children or with his hand over their mouths.
« In addition, the photographs depicted girls with what appeared to be a blue plastic spoon, filled with an unknown clear/white liquid substance, up to their mouths as if they were going to ingest the substance. There are also photos of children with large live Madagascar-type cockroaches on their faces and mouths, » the statement said.
A blue plastic spoon and container found in trash in his classroom tested positive for semen, the statement said.
Source AP