ANAHEIM, Calif. – A band teacher for an Anaheim junior high school is facing consequences after a woman revealed what she calls a decades-old secret.
Teacher Steve Graves, 61, is accused of sexual abuse of two teenage girls nearly 40 years ago.
While Graves has not been arrested, he is on administrative leave.
Police say that the alleged crimes may be too old to prosecute. But the two accusers’ attorney says this case really illustrates the power of social media.
He says the two women met online and since they started posting their story in just the last few days, they’ve heard from other potential victims.
It’s a social media post more than 35 years in the making.
The woman who only wants to be identified as Reiko shows herself pregnant at 17 by, she says, a teacher in the Anaheim Union High School District, Steve Graves.
Now, police say they’ve launched an investigation and have found another victim. The law firm representing both women says the post has prompted others to also come forward.
“There are documents that we are aware exist that indicate supervisors at the school district knew that he was a predator and yet kept him on and kept him on for the past 30+ years,” said attorney Morgan Stewart.
Graves is now on administrative leave from Lexington Junior High, where he is the band director, and the board says they immediately started the process to fire him. He also taught at Ball Junior High.
But the allegations stem back to the late 80s to his time at LaGuardia High, when both women were just 16.
Reiko’s lawyer said she gave birth at 17, had to transfer schools, and later sought child support, adding that a court ordered test confirmed Graves’ paternity.
“He fought it not only to fight it, he accused her of being an unwed single mother during the process when he was an adult who impregnated her as an unwed single mother,” Stewart said.
The Anaheim Union High School District issued a statement reading in part, “Keeping our students safe is a high priority on all of our campuses. The sexual misconduct revealed in the social media posts is reprehensible. It violates the district’s core values and fails to meet the high expectations we have for professional behavior by our staff.”
The district says they are cooperating with police who are investigating and also have launched their own internal review.
As for the two women, their attorney says they are hoping for criminal charges, but understand it may be outside the statute of limitations. Nonetheless, they are planning to file a civil suit against Graves.
