Civil suit: Richard Izquierdo Arroyo failed to protect student in alleged harassment by teacher
Originally Published:Friday, March 12th 2010, 1:53 AM
Updated: Friday, March 12th 2010, 1:53 AM
As he prepared to plead guilty in a criminal case, a Bronx man with family ties to two pols faces a civil suit over alleged abuse at a charter school he ran.
Richard Izquierdo Arroyo, grandson of an assemblywoman and a councilwoman's nephew, is accused of failing to protect a student allegedly sexually harassed and assaulted by a teacher.
"The teacher's conduct was reprehensible and utterly inappropriate for a class of high school seniors, let alone second- and third-graders," said Patrick Mullaney, lawyer for angry mom Nereida Pastrana.
"But to make matters worse, the conduct was well-known and condoned by the school staff and administration."
Izquierdo was chairman of the South Bronx Charter School for International Culture and the Arts when the alleged abuse took place. He has since resigned and is slated to plead guilty in federal court Friday to embezzling funds from a housing nonprofit.
Federal prosecutors accused him and a co-defendant of using some of the funds to finance the campaigns and district offices of Councilwoman Maria del Carmen Arroyo and Assemblywoman Carmen Arroyo.
Izquierdo could be hit with a second civil suit as soon as Friday, charging another student was abused at the school.
The suit filed in Bronx Supreme Court earlier this week says teacher Jared Alessandroni repeatedly called Pastrana's son, now 10, "gay" and twisted his arm in March 2009.
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/2010/03/12/2010-03-12_add_civil_suit_to_pol_kins_woes.html#ixzz0hz8fA49h