A Los Angeles assistant principal was arrested on Friday and charged with molesting eight children between 2015 and 2019, while he was working as an elementary school counsellor in Ventura County.

The defendant, David Lane Braff Junior, 42, of Thousand Oaks, California, is accused of molesting children aged 6 to 10 in an office at McKevett Elementary School in the Santa Paula Unified School District, roughly 70 miles west of Los Angeles.

The charges emerged out of a cold case sexual abuse unit, Ventura County district attorney Erik Nasarenko said. He noted that officials at McKevett Elementary had reached out to authorities at the time of the alleged incidents.

Nevertheless, Braff has held several jobs in public education since and has also volunteered in a number of programmes for children.

Nasarenko described an “extensive search for the possibility of other victims at other school sites and locations”.

Braff is being held on $3 million bail and will be arraigned on Monday.

Carol Braff, the suspect's mother, said that “of course” he denied the charges. “He’s worked with children his whole life. He’s never been in trouble,” she said in a brief phone call.

In a written statement, the Santa Paula school district said it had been aware of sexual abuse allegations against Braff since 2018, and had reported him then to law enforcement and begun an internal investigation. It is unclear why the earlier accusations did not result in charges.

According to a profile on LinkedIn that matches the name, likeness and work history of the suspect, Braff left his Santa Paula job in 2019, and then worked for a charter school network.

He eventually left that position as well and was most recently an assistant principal and counsellor at Ingenium Charter Middle School in Los Angeles.

Ingenium Schools did not respond to questions about Braff on Saturday.

New York Times News Service