Mother Alerts Police to Teacher’s ‘Inappropriate’ Text Messages to Underage Daughter

Mother Alerts Police to Teacher’s ‘Inappropriate’ Text Messages to Underage Daughter

Jan 17, 2023

A local high school English teacher has been arrested by San Jose Police in connection with an alleged sexual assault of a student. Police confirmed that the incident is believed to have occurred when the teacher worked at Silver Creek High School.

Te Bin Jung, 31, was taken into custody on January 10 after the mother of a 17-year-old student reported the sexual assault to law enforcement officials. Jung is currently employed as an English teacher at Yerba Buena High School in San Jose, California.

“The reporting party, who is the victim’s mother, told officers that she located inappropriate messages on her daughter’s phone from her former teacher,” police indicated via a press release.

Jung was arrested at his home in San Jose on January 10 and was booked into the Santa Clara County Main Jail on one count of sexual assault of a minor, according to a report from NBC Bay Area. CBS News confirmed that Jung has since been released.

Given Jung’s position as a teacher at multiple area schools, police have indicated that there may be additional victims who have yet to be identified. Authorities are asking anyone with information related to a possible sexual assault committed by Jung to reach out immediately.

To provide a tip on the case, please contact Detective Camarillo at the San Jose Police Department via 408-277-3214 or by email at 4576@sanjoseca.gov.

Increase in Sexual Abuse Reported in American Schools

A recent Washington Post article cited a survey compiled by the Civil Rights Data Collection which confirmed that reports of sexual assaults at elementary, middle, and high schools increased sharply between 2015 and 2018. Advocates believe those troubling findings underscore “the need for more schools to be prepared to handle reports of sexual violence,” the Washington Post said.

Surveys of every public school, charter school, and juvenile justice facility in the U.S. were collected and the data offered in-depth information about the nation’s schools. The surveys included various data sets:

• Demographics
• The access students have to advanced coursework
• The number of times students were arrested on school grounds

Through said data, the Education Department found that:

• Reports of sexual violence at American schools increased significantly.
• Approximately 9,600 sexual violence reports were confirmed in the 2015-2016 school year.
• Nearly 15,000 sexual violence reports were confirmed in the 2017-2018 school year.
• Those figures represent a troubling spike of over 50%.

“We hear all too often about innocent children being sexually assaulted by an adult at school. That should never happen. No parent should have to think twice about their child’s safety while on school grounds,” then-Education Secretary Betsy DeVos said in an issue brief that was published in October 2020 alongside the report.

But those concerning school sexual abuse statistics may actually be a gross underestimate which does not accurately highlight the true scope of the problem.

Shiwali Patel, director of justice for student survivors and senior counsel at the National Women’s Law Center, told the Washington Post that those figures are likely an undercount. Patel has represented female students who were accused of lying and suspended from school for reporting sexual assaults, and she noted one specific case where a student who reported that she had been assaulted was pressured into recanting and then punished.

“There is so much more that needs to be done in the K-12 space to increase awareness around Title IX and sex discrimination and sexual harassment,” Patel said to the Washington Post.

California School Sexual Abuse Lawsuits Lead to Multi-Million Dollar Settlements

School and teacher sexual abuse scandals are unfortunately all-too-common in California. With the passage of AB 218 in 2019, countless child sex abuse civil lawsuits were filed – many in connection with crimes which occurred decades ago.

Recent California school sexual abuse lawsuit that have been settled and garnered headlines include:

• A San Jose school was ordered to pay $7.5 million to five men who were sexually abused by their elementary school teacher in the late 1970s and early ’80s.
• Survivors of a former Sun Valley high school wrestling coach were awarded a $52 million settlement in October 2022. The complaint alleged that the Los Angeles Unified School District knew of prior sexual misconduct and did nothing about it.
• A jury awarded $102.5 million in March 2022 to two women who sued a Northern California school district. The complaint alleged that officials failed to stop a middle school teacher from sexually grooming and abusing them as minors.
• In April 2022, a $13.7 million settlement was reached with the Riverside Unified School District after 10 students alleged sexual abuse by former school technology aide Fernando Figueroa. The survivors ranged between the ages of 7 and 11 at the time of the abuse.
• An $11 million school sex abuse settlement was reached between Redlands Unified School District and seven survivors. The plaintiffs, initially named in four separate lawsuits, accused a former Clement Middle School teacher, Sean Ramiro Lopez, of various sex crimes (Lopez is currently serving a 74-year prison sentence for sexual abuse).

If you are a survivor of school or teacher sexual abuse, you have rights under the law. Civil lawsuits can help victims recover financial compensation for damages related to:

• Pain and suffering
• Emotional trauma
• Psychological harm
• Counseling or therapy expenses (past and future)
• Medical expenses (past and future)
• Punitive damages
• Lost wages or reduced future earning capacity
• Diminished quality of life

Dordulian Law Group’s (DLG) school sexual abuse lawyers are committed to fighting for justice on behalf of all survivors.

How to File Your California School Sexual Abuse Lawsuit

To begin the process of pursuing a civil lawsuit for damages against your abuser – whether an individual or entity – contact DLG’s Sex Crimes Division today at 866-GO-SEE-SAM.

Our Sexual Assault Justice Experts are here to help survivors secure justice. Contact our top-rated attorneys online or by phone for a free consultation today.

DLG was founded by Sam Dordulian, a former sex crimes prosecutor in the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office who obtained life sentences against countless sexual predators. Today, Dordulian and his SAJE Team (Sexual Abuse Justice Experts) of dedicated attorneys fight on behalf of survivors in civil court – aggressively pursuing justice through maximum financial compensation for past crimes.

To speak with a DLG California school sexual abuse attorney, contact us at 866-GO-SEE-SAM for a free, confidential, and no obligation consultation. There is never any upfront fee for our expert sex crimes legal representation – you pay nothing until after we’ve successfully secured a maximum financial damages award for your case.