Crime

Portola Middle School teacher arrested for molestation

portola-ms-sign.jpgThis stuff just keeps happening. Jason Leon, 32, a teacher at the Tarzana middle school, was taken into custody today on an arrest warrant and charged with four counts of child molestation and three counts of battery. The victims were girls aged 13 and 14 at the time of the alleged crimes.

“Working with LAPD and the school district, this office will aggressively prosecute adults who prey upon our children,” City Attorney Carmen Trutanich said in a release. “Our schools should be one of the safest of places in the community for our children, and I will do everything within my authority to ensure their safety.”

Leon's bail was set at $35,000. If convicted, he could face up to 5 and a half years in jail and $26,000 in fines, according to Trutanich's office.

On the last day of class, June 15, 2012, one 13-year-old female student reported that her teacher, Leon, had allegedly touched her inappropriately on that day. Three days later, another 13-year-old female student of Leon’s reported that on both June 15, 2012, and several days earlier, Leon had engaged in similar behavior. Charges also include allegations by a third female student of the school who claims to have been similarly abused by Leon on several occasions in 2010 when she was 14 years old.



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