Testimony Kicks Off in Civil Suit Against SPUSD

First published in the July 1 print issue of the South Pasadena Review.

Testimony got underway on Monday involving two former female students at South Pasadena High School who have filed a civil lawsuit against the school district regarding a track coach who reportedly gave them massages in separate incidents in 2013 and 2014.

One of the key witnesses in the case was Janet Anderson, who was then principal at South Pasadena High School, and who took the stand on Tuesday. The civil lawsuit contends Anderson failed to protect the two teenagers and did not properly supervise then track coach Pierre Jonas (P.J.) Hernandez.

Anderson attended SPHS in the 1970s, graduating in 1974. She was employed by the South Pasadena Unified School District from 1980 until last year, becoming principal at the high school in 2000.

At the time of the alleged incidents, the suit claims, Hernandez was the head track coach at SPHS.

In 2015, Hernandez pleaded no contest to misdemeanor charges and sexual battery involving one of the female students.

According to testimony in the criminal trial, a 16-year-old female student came forward in April 2014 and said Hernandez gave her a massage behind a locked door. The massage included inappropriately touching her by reaching under her shorts and touching her buttocks.

The testimony was corroborated by a second female student, who came forward after the investigation had begun. She said Hernandez touched her in a similar manner in a 2013.

According to the current civil lawsuit, one of the young women received a massage by Hernandez in 2014 in the school trainers’ room and the other received a massage by Hernandez in 2013 in an area underneath the school’s stadium.

Anderson agreed that a male coach giving a massage to a female athlete in a private setting was inappropriate.

Some witnesses who spoke at the trial said they had seen, in the past, coaches giving massages on players to areas below the knee on the field.

In 2015, Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Jon R. Takasugi sentenced Hernandez to 180 days in jail to be served by electronic monitoring, five years of probation and 30 days of community service.

In addition to having to register as a sex offender for life, Hernandez was also required to attend 52 weeks of sexual compulsion classes.

Also, the judge ordered a 10-year stay-away order, which prohibits Hernandez from contacting either of the victims.

At the time of the incidents, the students were a sophomore and junior.

A school official said on Wednesday the district would not issue a statement until the trial is over.

The trial, held in Alhambra Superior Court, included testimony by the former athletic director at the SPHS, who said he did not feel that a male coach giving a massage to a female athlete was appropriate.

Anderson said she met with both young women and their parents to hear their concerns and let them know the situations would be addressed. She and other school officials immediately started contacting Hernandez to tell him to not come back on campus. She said she went to a track practice that day to make sure he was not there.

He was let go.

An attorney for the current plaintiffs, Michael Carrillo, brought up the fact that another previous coach, Harry Poltkin, was fired because he would run around shirtless during practices and interact with female athletes, specifically when they were stretching their legs.

Anderson said she told Poltkin the behavior was inappropriate, but he continued doing it. She said she finally had to terminate him.

During testimony, Carrillo asked Anderson if she knew that Plotkin and Hernandez were friends, but she said she did not know.

Part of Carrillo’s contention during questioning was that that Anderson gave preferential treatment to Hernandez because he had also attended SPHS, and because the track team had won the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) championship under his coaching.

The plaintiffs, both referred to as Jane Does, are suing for “emotional distress, damages, which include a loss of trust, peace of mind, innocence and their childhood,” according to a statement from the Carrillo Law Firm, which is representing the two young women.

As of the Review’s press time on Wednesday, testimony was scheduled to resume Thursday and Friday.