Riverside Unified School District serves much of the city of Riverside. Its recent history includes a series of abuse settlements arising from a single elementary school.
Liberty Elementary
A technology aide worked at Liberty Elementary from 2014 until his arrest on February 16, 2017. He was indicted on 25 counts of lewd acts on a child involving 11 alleged victims, later pleaded guilty to lewd and lascivious acts involving 11 children between the ages of 7 and 11, and was sentenced to 20 years to life in prison. The lawsuits alleged that the district failed to supervise him and failed to report, and that administrators ignored or covered up what they had been told.
In December 2018 the district agreed to pay $6.2 million to three girls who were 9 and 10 years old at the time of the abuse. A second suit was filed in May 2019 for three more children. In April 2022 the district settled the claims of ten former students for $13.75 million.
Classified staff and the duty to supervise
The Liberty Elementary case involved an aide, not a credentialed teacher. The district’s duty does not change. Aides, technology staff, campus supervisors, custodians, and bus drivers are district employees, the administrators who supervise them owe students the same duty of care, and all of them are mandated reporters.
Why the district is responsible
The district is responsible when the adults in charge knew, or should have known, that an employee was a danger to students and did not act: a principal who got a complaint and did nothing, a teacher who saw something and did not report it, a district that hired someone without checking. Those failures are what a case is built on. If you are 40 or older and the abuse happened before 2024, a 2026 law also requires stronger proof against a public school district: clear and convincing evidence that the district actually knew of the misconduct and failed to act. How a claim against a school district works.
Is it too late?
Probably not. If the abuse happened before 2024, you can usually file until you turn 40, or within a few years of realizing as an adult that the abuse caused harm you are living with now (that window is five years today; a law signed in 2026 shortens it to three years starting January 1, 2027). If the abuse happened on or after January 1, 2024, there is no deadline at all. You do not have to file a government claim first. More on deadlines.
Who may have a claim
Anyone abused as a student by a Riverside Unified employee or volunteer, at any of the district’s schools, at any time, including Liberty Elementary students who were not part of the 2018 or 2022 settlements.
Talk to us
If you or your child was abused by an employee of this district, call 877-428-4544 any time. The conversation is private and free, cases are filed under a Doe name, and there is no attorney fee and no costs unless we recover.
Sources
The cases described on this page are drawn from court records and news reports. They are not our cases, and past results do not predict the outcome of any claim. This page is general information as of October 2026, not legal advice.
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