The Thacher School located in Ojai, CA recently disclosed decades of sexual abuse and misconduct by former employees and students.
On June 7th, 2021, representatives from the Thacher School and the law firm Munger, Tolles, & Olsen (MTO) contacted the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office to provide limited details regarding numerous allegations of past sexual abuse and misconduct, which occurred at the school. The following day, investigators with the Sheriff’s Major Crimes Unit were informed MTO conducted a wide-ranging investigation into the allegations and an extensive report with additional details would be released to investigators the following week, the same day it was released to the public.
The MTO investigative report outlined decades of past sexual abuse and misconduct dating back to the early 1960s. Some of the allegations were previously reported to the Sheriff’s Office; however, the majority were not. Investigators are currently working with MTO and Thacher representatives in order to contact the named and unnamed victims, suspects, and witnesses listed in the report. Every allegation will be evaluated to determine if a crime occurred and if the statute of limitations will allow for the prosecution of any offense(s).
The Sheriff’s Office believes there may be additional victims or witnesses who were not contacted and/or included in the MTO investigative report. Anyone with information related to this investigation is asked to call Sergeant Hector Macias at (805) 384-4730. We know survivors of sexual assault and abuse are often reluctant to come forward for many different reasons. Just know there are resources available to you regardless of your decision to participate in a criminal investigation. Anyone impacted by these events is encouraged to contact the Ventura County Family Justice Center for assistance:
The Ventura County Family Justice Center is located at 3170 Loma Vista Road in Ventura. During business hours, Monday – Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., requests for services and information are available in person, by telephone (805) 652-7655, by e-mail at [email protected] or via text at (805) 947-7981.
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