Alleged victim of convicted 'Papa Bear' child molester sues South Bay school district
A line of school buses at Eshelman Transportation in Robeson Township Wednesday afternoon Aug. 5, 2020, where they are preparing their bus drivers for the start of the school year and new precautions during the coronavirus / COVID-19 pandemic. (Photo
SAN JOSE, Calif. - An alleged victim of sexual abuse, known only as Jane MC Doe, is suing Santa Clara County Office of Education and Mt. Pleasant Elementary School District for negligence, according to a complaint.
The lawsuit filed last month alleges that Ms. Doe was sexually assaulted in 2013, when she was 10-years old by Edgar Covarrubias-Padilla, a camp counselor known by the students he was responsible for as 'Papa Bear'.
According to the complaint, Doe, who is still a minor, was a student at Ida Jew Academy, a charter school within the Mt. Pleasant Elementary School District. The district contracted with Santa Clara County Office of Education and provided students with an outdoor learning experience at Walden West science camp.
Covarrubias- Padilla was employed at the camp as a counselor and night monitor. His duties included comforting students who were homesick or troubled at night.
In 2015, Santa Clara County sheriff's deputies arrested him on a tip that he was downloading child pornography.
KTVU had reported at that time on separate instances that he had molested two children at the camp. The families of those victims sued the Office of Education for not protecting their children from a suspected child predator.
In 2017, Covarrubias- Padilla pleaded guilty to sexually molesting two campers and possessing and distributing as many as 20,000 images and videos of child pornography from a 'pbear' email account.
"Santa Clara County and Mt. Pleasant Unified School District knew that Covarrubias-Padilla was under investigation for sex crimes involving children, yet they never informed our client or her parents," Morgan Stewart, an attorney for Ms. Doe said.
"Papa Bear" is currently serving an 18-year sentence in state prison.