Victor Valley Union High School District serves Victorville and nearby High Desert communities. In 2025 it resolved a group of claims that show how far back a California school abuse case can reach.
The Victor Valley Junior High counselor case
A counselor at Victor Valley Junior High School was accused in the lawsuits of abusing students between 1991 and 2002. He was arrested in 2002, convicted of sex crimes against minors, and sentenced to 102 years in prison. After AB 218 reopened the courts to adult survivors, five lawsuits were filed in San Bernardino County Superior Court in 2022 on behalf of former students. In October 2025 the district agreed to pay $12.5 million to eight of them for abuse that had occurred more than two decades earlier.
Abuse from the 1990s is not too old
These survivors were decades past junior high when the case settled. California law lets a survivor file until age 40, or within a few years of realizing as an adult what the abuse did, and the district’s records from the 1990s, including any complaints about the counselor, can still be obtained in a lawsuit.
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 Victor Valley Union High School District employee or volunteer, at any of the district’s schools, at any time, including former Victor Valley Junior High students who were not part of the 2025 settlement.
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.
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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