David Lane Braff Jr., a former school counselor employed by Santa Paula Unified School District from 2015 and 2019, was recently arrested by Ventura County authorities for alleged child sex abuse. Specifically, he has been accused of molesting eight children at McKevett Elementary School in Santa Paula while employed by Santa Paula USD in 2018.
Authorities announced that Braff is facing 17 felony counts of lewd acts upon a child under 14 years of age. The criminal complaint against him also details several other special allegations and aggravating factors.
At the time of his arrest, Braff was working as an assistant principal and school counselor at Ingenium Charter Middle School in Winnetka, but it is not clear at this time if there are concerns about him possibly abusing children there. Ingenium Charter Middle School announced that it took “immediate actions to ensure the safety of its students” upon learning of the allegations from McKevett Elementary in Ventura County and that it would “cooperate fully with law enforcement.”
When news broke of Braff’s arrest, Santa Paula Unified School District announced that it “took immediate action by launching an internal investigation and working in close collaboration with law enforcement” at the time of the allegations. What the district did, exactly, to investigate and possibly penalize Braff is not known. It is known, however, that the alleged acts of child sex abuse likely took place exclusively in McKevett Elementary School in 2018, and that he did not stop working for the district until 2019.
(For more information about this developing story, you can click here for an article from NBC 4 Los Angeles or click here for an article from The New York Times.)
Call The Zalkin Law Firm, P.C. If Your Child Went to McKevett Elementary School
Ventura County authorities are asking anyone with more information about Braff and his alleged child sex crimes to come forward. The more people who can provide information, the stronger the criminal case against him can become. In addition to Braff facing the criminal justice system, Santa Paula Unified School District may soon face claims filed through the civil court system by the parents of children who were sexually abused by Braff.
Did your child go to McKevett Elementary School in Ventura County any time between 2015 and 2019 while David Braff was working there as a school counselor? If they were sexually abused or harassed by Braff, you might have grounds to file a lawsuit against Santa Paula USD for failing to protect your children from his criminal actions. Child sex abuse lawsuits are typically filed against the abuser and the employer that harbored or enabled them due to inaction or negligence.
The Zalkin Law Firm, P.C. has focused our practice on helping hundreds of survivors of childhood sex abuse, clergy sex abuse, and school sex abuse for the past 20+ years, resulting in millions of dollars successfully recovered for them through settlements and trial awards. We have stood up to powerful organizations and institutions for them, such as the Catholic Church and the Boy Scouts of America. We would like to help you and your child find justice and possibly a sense of closure, too, by representing you in your case against Santa Paula Unified School District and its former school counselor, David Braff. Our legal counsel is available for sexual abuse survivors in California and nationwide.
Schedule a free and confidential case consultation with our trauma-informed childhood sex abuse attorneys by calling (800) 477-2989 now.
