WHAT A HEEL: School District Found Liable For Special Ed Teacher Stealing Autistic Girl’s Lunch Money
Fifty-seven times, a surveillance camera caught Camarillo High School special education aide Kristen Santoyo steal the $5 that Megan Spitzer’s parents gave her for lunch. Santoyo, a self-confessed meth addict with a history of sleeping in class, pleaded guilty to stealing from the autistic girl who is unable to communicate, and was sentenced to 180 days in jail in 2008. Now, a jury in a civil trial has found that school district officials were negligent in training and supervising both Santoyo and intern teacher Jesse Cox, to whose classroom Santoyo was assigned, reports the Ventura County (CA) Star. The jurors awarded the Spitzer family $5,700 as damages – which works out to $20 for every dollar Santoyo stole from them.
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