David Braff Jr Charged With Molesting 13 Children

Former Ventura County School Counselor David Braff Jr (Full Name: David Lane Braff, Jr), of Thousand Oaks, Charged with Molesting Additional Victims at McKevett Elementary School in Santa Paula

VENTURA COUNTY, CALIFORNIA (May 2, 2025) – A former Ventura County school counselor at McKevett Elementary School in Santa Paula, identified as David Braff Jr, has been charged with molesting 13 children.

The Ventura County District Attorney’s Office announced the charges on April 29. David Braff Jr was initially arrested in November 2024. He was charged with molesting 8 students at McKevett Elementary School. 

An additional five victims have been identified in the following months. Four of the victims were also students at McKevett Elementary School. The other victim was allegedly abused while the defendant was working at Conejo Recreation and Park District in Thousand Oaks. 

David Braff Jr has a long employment history with schools across California. That work history includes the following institutions and school districts. 

• Conejo Recreation and Park District, Thousand Oaks
• Conejo Valley Unified School District, Thousand Oaks
• Moorpark Unified School District, Moorpark
• The ABA Network, Inc., Thousand Oaks 
• Santa Paula Unified School District, Santa Paula (McKevett Elementary School)
• Bright Star Schools, Los Angeles
• Rio School District, Oxnard
• Sports Academy, Thousand Oaks
• Ventura Unified School District, Ventura
• Ingenium Charter Middle School, Canoga Park

The district attorney said that he is committed to uncovering the full extent and scope of the alleged abuse. David Braff Jr remains in custody on a $3 million bail and is set to be arraigned on May 21, 2025.

Liability for Ventura County School Sexual Abuse 

Sexual abuse involving school officials remains a very common occurrence across California and the United States. According to neaToday, “there were 14,938 incidents of sexual violence in K–12 schools in 2017 – 2018 compared with 9,649 in 2015 – 2016, representing a 55 percent increase. These include incidents of rape or attempted rape and sexual assault.” Much of the abuse that takes place is preventable when schools take measures to safeguard the well-being of students.

• Background Checks: Schools should conduct a thorough background check on all prospective employees. They should also check sex offender registries.
• Clear Policies and Training: Schools should create clear policies with respect to appropriate behavior between school faculty and students. School officials should also be trained to recognize grooming behaviors that often precede abuse.
• Supervision: Schools should do everything in their power to avoid teachers having one-on-one encounters with students.
• Mandatory Reporting: Schools should ensure that all staff comply with mandatory reporting laws. Every teacher has a legal obligation to report reasonably suspected instances of child abuse.

Schools are required to protect students from reasonably foreseeable sources of harm. This includes protecting them from sexual abuse at the hands of school officials and other third parties during the school day. To that end, school officials must properly supervise students at all portions of the day and enforce all rules and regulations necessary for their protection. When school officials become aware that a teacher or faculty member poses a risk of harm to students, they must take action. Failing to take action to protect students could create the basis of a negligence claim.

School districts across California have faced a number of lawsuits after students have been sexually abused by teachers and school coaches. Consider, for example, A.H. v. Tamalpais Union High School Dist. A student was sexually abused by his tennis coach at Tamalpais High School. School officials allegedly failed to supervise the coach and did not properly investigate prior complaints against him. A jury ultimately found the school district negligent and awarded the plaintiff $10 million. It is important that certain steps are taken after any instance of suspected abuse involving a school official.

• Immediate Protection: Parents should take steps to ensure that the child is no longer in contact with the abuser or in an environment that would be unsafe.
• Police Report: The incident should be reported to the police. They will begin the process of investigating what happened and also take steps to preserve key pieces of evidence.
• Evidence Collection: All evidence related to the abuse should be properly collected. This may include text messages, emails, and messages on social media.
• Legal Counsel: Parents should seek the guidance of an experienced school sexual abuse attorney. An attorney can take steps to investigate the misconduct and determine whether or not a school district could face liability for the incident.

Sexual abuse is one of the most harmful experiences that children can go through. Survivors are much more likely to experience a wide variety of negative physical, psychological, and educational outcomes. For example, abuse victims are substantially more likely to have long-term anxiety and develop post-traumatic stress disorder. Sadly, though, school districts will often do everything in their power to deny responsibility if a teacher abuses students. But the fact of the matter is that by the time any teacher is arrested for misconduct, there were likely many missed red flags. 

Getting Legal Help for School Sexual Abuse

We at the Carrillo Law Firm, LLP were deeply concerned to hear about the allegations against David Braff Jr. Any person that may have more information about what happened should reach out to the Ventura County District Attorney’s Office. It is unbelievable that this individual had so many different positions at different schools across Southern California. There needs to be a thorough investigation into the potential scope of the abuse and what school officials knew about this individual.

Have you or someone that you care about been sexually abused by a school official in California? There are a number of laws designed to protect your rights. Our team of highly experienced teacher sexual abuse attorneys is here for you. We will do everything in our power to hold perpetrators and their enablers fully accountable under the law. In fact, we have consistently achieved some of the highest verdicts and settlements for victims of sexual abuse in California. Whether you just have legal questions or need any type of assistance, we are here for you. You can reach out to us anytime for a risk-free and confidential consultation at 626-799-9375.