A Compton high school principal in his first year at the campus was being investigated for alleged inappropriate searches of male students that could rise to the level of a criminal charge, authorities said Wednesday.
The principal of operations at Dominguez High School, identified as Oscar Orlando Mendez, was the subject of allegations about inappropriate searches conducted on male students, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.
The students, who were male and age 16 or 17, had broken school rules against skipping class, or smoking cigarettes or marijuana, Sgt. Al Garcia said. In an interview with KTLA, Garcia said he could not describe the nature of the searches amid the ongoing investigation.
“We don’t want to delve into any details of what exactly the searches consisted of, but they reached the level of annoying or molesting a child under 18,” Garcia said. “We want to wait before we put out details of the searches until we find any and all potential victims.”
The principal, who started at the school in July 2014, cooperated with detectives in an interview on Tuesday, Garcia said. Investigators were seeking additional victims and were interviewing more students, the sergeant said.
“Of the 10 students that we’ve interviewed, five of them disclosed being searched in a manner that made them feel very uncomfortable,” Garcia said.
Several of the staff members who corroborated students’ accounts said they themselves were made uncomfortable by the searches, Garcia said.
Once interviews are complete, the case will be presented to county prosecutors, Garcia said.
Mendez has not been arrested or charged, and he was not named by Garcia or in a Sheriff’s Department news release about the case. But his image was placed on a Special Victim’s Bureau flier, and a sheriff’s spokeswoman confirmed he was the subject of the investigation.
The case was brought to the Special Victims Bureau on Feb. 4 by a “mandated reporter,” or an individual required by law to report suspected child abuse, according to the sheriff’s news release.
The principal was placed on administrative leave amid the ongoing investigation, the Compton Unified School District said in a brief statement Wednesday.
On the school’s website, Mendez was listed as the principal of operations, alongside a principal of academics.
