Lawsuit filed against ex-La Habra High teacher and school district over alleged 1987 sexual assault
A former La Habra High School student has filed a lawsuit against a retired teacher and the Fullerton Joint Union High School District, alleging he was the victim of sexual assault by a known predator.
The lawsuit was filed Tuesday in Orange County Superior Court under a new law that gives victims of childhood sexual assault more time to bring forward a suit. It alleges that the unidentified plaintiff was assaulted by former teacher and coach Charles T. Ritz III during an overnight school trip in 1987.
Ritz resigned under pressure from Lake Bluff Junior High School in Illinois in 1985 before getting a job across the country at La Habra High School the following year.
In 2017, Ritz pleaded guilty to a public indecency charge in Illinois as part of a plea deal that required he work 15 hours of community service but kept him out of jail.
That same year, prosecutors in Orange County declined to file criminal charges against Ritz related to an alleged 1987 incident involving two 15-year-olds because the six-year statute of limitations had long passed.
The new civil lawsuit was jointly filed by Anderson & Associates, a Minnesota-based firm that specializes in representing abuse survivors, and a Costa Mesa firm. Anderson & Associates has filed several sexual assault-related lawsuits against a variety of Catholic dioceses in recent weeks.
The lawsuit alleges that Ritz, founder of La Habra High School’s first surf team, got the then-15-year-old plaintiff and other students drunk during an overnight camping trip at San Onofre State Beach, persuaded the plaintiff and another student to have sex with Ritz’s girlfriend, then sexually assaulted the plaintiff himself.
The lawsuit also alleges that Ritz “regularly exposed students to alcohol, drugs and pornography at parties he hosted for minor male students at his home and the homes of others, in his van and during overnight trips.”
The school district did not immediately respond to a request for comment regarding the lawsuit. Ritz could not be reached for comment.
Attorneys during a news conference on Tuesday alleged that school officials in Illinois knew about Ritz’s alleged inappropriate conduct with students but failed to notify law enforcement.
The Anderson firm alleges that school officials in Orange County were negligent in hiring Ritz without fully checking out his background.
La Habra police had investigated Ritz after learning that he was being looked at by authorities in Lake Bluff, Illinois, for allegations of sexual impropriety that was to have occurred more than 30 years ago.
The lawsuit seeks an unspecified amount of monetary damages.