LIVERMORE (BCN) — The Alameda County District Attorney’s Office has filed misdemeanor assault and battery and child cruelty charges against a Livermore preparatory academy worker for allegedly physically abusing a foreign exchange student in January, prosecutors said.
Prosecutors also charged the principal and vice principal of the Livermore Valley Charter Preparatory school with a misdemeanor charge of failure to report the alleged child abuse.
Livermore police Officer Cynthia Moore wrote in court documents that the assault and child cruelty charges are against 42-year-old Brock Van Wey of Livermore, who isn’t employed by the charter school but works for California Preparatory Academies, which has been helping the charter school with its foreign exchange program.
Moore wrote that the incident occurred on Jan. 28, when the 14-year-old student was in an after-school tutoring session on the charter school’s campus and Van Wey accused him of copying homework and “humiliated” him in front of others.
The student, named as John Doe in court documents, got upset and left the tutoring session and the campus. Van Wey later found him behind a local grocery store and told him to get into his car but the student refused, according to Moore.
Van Wey then “forcefully grabbed Doe by his arms, picked Doe up and held him in a cradle position,” Moore wrote.
The student tried to get away but Van Wey’s grip “was too tight, which restrained Doe’s movements,” Moore wrote.
Van Wey next “began cussing and shoving Doe into the car head first,” Moore wrote.
The student was then driven back to the school and eventually picked up by his guardian, according to Moore.
The student suffered a laceration to his shin and complained of pain to his knees as a result of the incident, according to Moore.
Van Wey told the school’s vice principal, 39-year-old Randy Taylor of Oakland, about the incident the next morning and Taylor told the school’s principal, 37-year-old Eric Dillie of Livermore, the same morning.
However, Dillie and Taylor never contacted the student to ask about his welfare and never reported the alleged physical abuse to Child Protective Services or law enforcement even though they’re mandatory reporters, Moore wrote.
An investigation by Livermore police revealed that “Dillie and Taylor laughed and joked about the abuse incident, discussed the incident with others and minimized what occurred,” Moore wrote.
Dillie “provided several different inconsistent statements” to police during subsequent interviews but ultimately admitted that Taylor had told him about the incident the morning after it occurred, Moore wrote.
Officials at Tri-Valley Learning Corp., which runs the charter school, weren’t immediately available for comment.