Episode #16267 - Hot Off The Presses: WTF
A Los Angeles elementary school teacher bound and gagged nearly two dozen children, put cockroaches on some of their faces and posed in photos with them the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department said on Tuesday.
He also may have spoon-fed some of the children his semen.
The investigation began when a film processor gave authorities some 40 photographs depicting blindfolded children in a classroom with their mouths taped shut.
Mark Berndt, 61, who taught elementary school for 30 years, was charged with molestation after photos surfaced showing bound and gagged children, some with roaches, and some with what appears to be spoons of semen
A sheriff's department statement said Mark Berndt, 61, was arrested Monday at his Torrance home 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 between 2008 and 2010.
Berndt worked for more than 30 years at Miramonte Elementary School in an unincorporated area of south Los Angeles before being fired last March. Some of the photos showed Berndt with his arm around the children or with his hand over their mouths. Other pictures depicted girls with what appears to be a spoon up to their mouths as if they were going to ingest a clear-white liquid. A blue plastic spoon and container found in trash in Berndt's classroom tested positive for semen, the statement said.
The DNA matched Berndt's.
Some of the children's mouths and faces had large, live Madagascar-type cockroaches on them.. 'It makes you sick to your stomach,' Los Angeles Unified School District Superintendent John Deasy told KTTV Fox 11 News, which first reported the arrest. The teacher was immediately removed when police informed the district and was fired, Deasy said. No student ever came forward to report the abuse, he said. More than 80 current and former students and school employees were interviewed for the investigation. The sheriff's department said a search warrant served on Berndt's home led to the discovery of more than 100 similar photographs depicting children. A DVD depicting adult sexual bondage activity 'which mirrored the bondage-type photos of the children' was also found during the search, the department said, noting that the adults in that video were not identified and those images are not a crime. The department said about 10 children seen in photos have not been identified.
F*ck jail!!! if i was a parent, co-worker, friend of the child, or anything i would have made sure he was 10 ft under!!!!!!!! Sick bastard! Why didn't any of the kids speak up? I'm so glad my 8 yr old nephew can't hold water b/c that boy comes home & tells every detail w/out anyone asking. Even tho he has gotten me in trouble sometimes, I know if he was to get hurt by an adult, he wouldn't hesitate to tell what went down.
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This motherfucker need to get got real talk two to the head case closed.
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7-10 is too hold to be keeping that stuff to themselves. I used to tell on my teachers daily when I was in school. My mother wasn't the type that always blamed the teacher but she knew when it was something serious enough for her to go down and crack heads.
This is a damn shame. Parents need to ask their kids about their day and find out what's going on in their classes.
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He is a predator.....he knew what kids to target.
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Exactly!! Predators stalk their pray, and they prey on the weak. They know the family backgrounds, and any mental health issues the children may have. These people are sick, yes, but they aren't stupid. They are masters of manipulation, very good liars, cunning and sneaky. Its going to be easier to target children that have little to no parental involvement in their childs education. Dont just ask you child what happened at school, every day or how their day was.MAKE SURE TO SHOW UP AT SCHOOL FROM TIME TO TIME. MAKE FACE TIME WITH THE TEACHERS, AND LOOK THEM STRAIGHT IN THE EYE WHEN YOU TALK TO THEM. I understand everyone is not able to do this, but get someone, aunt, uncle , grandparent someone to show up for the child. Make them aware of your presence, and that you are paying attention to what goes on in school.
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Why did Gene Hackman do that??
(looks at pic again) My bad.
But seriously...
I would think that if you put a big-azz bug on a kid's mouth/face,he would mention it to SOMEBODY...I mean,hell,if I just SAW one of them thangs,I'd have to post it to FaceBook and whatnot!
(wonders if he's the guy who wrote the valentine with roaches in that earlier ep,hmm...)
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Yesss! Why did I suspect he was the culprit of the dead roach telegram too? Whoooo I hope the toughest, greasiest and ugliest dude in prison makes him their b!tch and run up in that with no vaseline every night!
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He probably took the pics with the roaches, and passed it off as a lesson about insects, science lesson .then took the pics for his sick fascination and shared them with his sick friends. A child would have no idea they were the subject of some weird sexual fantasy. I bet you my last dollar, that when more information is released, these children probably thought they were simply learning some sort of lesson. If they werent nude, or sexually assaulted..of course the children wouldnt tell. He's passing the abuse off as some class lesson or experiment. That right there, is evil, evil, evil!
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The DEVIL is at work..
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That's why I tell my son and nephews TELL SOMEBODY! I can't believe so many kids stayed quiet so long.
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This literally made my stomach churn...this sick nasty bastard need to be lit on fire alive..just sick!
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