Teacher Molested Several Students Over Years; 11-year-old among Victims; Lawsuit Filed by Victim’s Mother in California
Four former students have filed a lawsuit against a former teacher who worked at Folsom Cordova Unified School District, accusing him of engaging in grooming and committing acts of sexual abuse while they were under his care. The school district is also facing a lawsuit, alleging negligence and failure to protect students from serial molestation that occurred over several decades.
Allegations of serial molestation have been made, with incidents dating back to the 1990s and the most recent case occurring in 2021 at Cordova Meadows Elementary School.
Steven Richard Kester, 78, worked as a full-time teacher at Folsom Cordova Unified for over three decades before retiring in May 2012. Several months later, he joined the district’s substitute teacher pool. In June 2021, he was taken into custody under suspicion of committing multiple felony counts of child sexual abuse. He entered a plea of not guilty and is currently released on bail, as per Sacramento County court records.
Four individuals have come forward, each sharing their experiences of abuse during various stages of their lives, spanning from childhood to adulthood. A lawsuit has been filed by the mother of an 11-year-old girl, alleging years of abuse from 2017 to 2021, when the girl was between the ages of 5 and 9.
According to the complaint, the child informed her family about the abuse she had been subjected to by Kester. According to the complaint, she revealed this information after an incident where he allegedly held her in a Cordova Meadows Elementary bathroom and subjected her to molestation for an extended period of time. Kester was eventually arrested as a result.
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Several other individuals reported instances of abuse occurring at different times between 1998 and 2008, specifically at Cordova High School and Folsom Middle School.
According to the plaintiffs, school administrators were made aware of Kester’s misconduct, but failed to take action to safeguard the victims or other students.
The complaint alleges that Kester engaged in inappropriate behavior towards the plaintiffs in the presence of other school staff members. It further claims that the school district had prior knowledge of warning signs indicating that Kester posed a potential risk to its female students.
The Folsom Cordova Unified district spokesperson mentioned that they have not received the lawsuit and therefore cannot provide any comments on the ongoing litigation as reported by Sacramento Bee.
According to the complaint, Kester had gained a reputation among Cordova High students for his inappropriate behavior towards female students, earning him the nickname “Kester the molester.” Additionally, it was reported that he would regularly position himself outside the girls’ locker room.
In a lawsuit that dates back to 1998, the first incident involves another plaintiff who happened to be in Kester’s PE class at Cordova High. According to her account, Kester allegedly engaged in inappropriate behavior by touching her and fondling her breasts during class, under the guise of helping her with the required pull-ups. She requested a transfer to another PE class.
