Mark Berndt
Written by Blueghost1
Teachers are supposed to help your children grow and develop their learning skills and hone in on their talents and social skills. Not 61-year-old Third grade teacher Mark Berndt. His thirty-year experience at Miramonte Elementary School gave new meaning the word experience.
When I sent my only child to kindergarten on what was going to be the glorious first day, I followed the bus all the way to the school and my child said “Mom, geez did you have to go all the way to school? My friends from pre-school were yelling, ‘Hey! Isn’t that your mom?’”
I read this site often and well it has not made me less observant, less suspicious or less cautious. On the contrary, I am an overprotective bear. I distinctly remembered my third grade. It was the year I met my best friend. That friendship has now spanned decades. Therefore, when I found out that this man lived in the same city as her I had to find out if one of her or her immediate family’s children might have fallen prey to this monster.
Well lucky for her the school is located elsewhere from the city of Torrance where this man lived. If I could have notated the address I might have written the address here. Unfortunately, he does live in her city but is in jail on a $2.3 million dollar bond. (That is not going to get him out on a teacher’s salary.)
The children who however have attended the Miramonte Elementary School in Miramonte, California this year or the last thirty years probably were not so lucky. Miramonte Elementary School is in an unincorporated area of South Los Angeles. Miramonte serves a poor, mainly Hispanic neighborhood. More than half of its approximately 1,400 students are still learning English, according to the school’s website.
The perversion here is disgusting so WARNING; the weak stomach and weak hearted please adjust your reading material back to Bambi.
Mr. Berndt was fired a year ago until the investigation could be completed. Completed it was. It seems that Mr. Berndt had a sort of show and tell with the children blindfolded. And he took photos.
Berndt is seen in the photos submitted to authorities by alarmed and alert processing company employees. A statement from the sheriff’s department noted that “the photographs depicted girls with what appeared to be a blue plastic spoon, filled with an unknown clear/white liquid substance, up to their mouths as if they were going to ingest the substance.”
That liquid substance was, yep you guessed it, semen. Berndt allegedly told the children they would be playing “a game.”
Sheriff’s Lt. Carlos Marquez of the Special Victims Bureau said it was determined the children were given semen on a spoon or on a cookie. Investigators recovered a blue plastic spoon and empty container from the trash in the suspects classroom. The items tested positive for semen, and DNA proved it to be Mark Berndt’s according to the sheriff’s department.
None of the photos showed the students actually eating the semen, but Marquez said the children reported they did not like the taste.
It brought mind the movie Silence of the Lambs. Quoting James “Buffalo Bill” Gumb, “it puts the lotion on its skin” and Dr Hannibal Lecter, “I ate his liver with some Fava beans and rice and a nice Chianti.” By a raise of hands, how many out there think he tried other substances beside this? (I know you all raised your hands too!)
There were also photos of children with large live Madagascar-type cockroaches or otherwise called Hissing Cockroaches, on their faces and mouths.” Gross!
Mark Berndt is accused of felony molestation involving 23 children ages 7 to 10 years old between 2008 and 2010, according to sheriff’s investigators. The police department so far have located 26 victims and have interviewed 80 others, but remember he has been teaching 30 years and that is just one year’s worth. You do the math. They are hoping other step forward that have been victimized. These felonies include gagging, blindfolding and forced ingestion, just to mention a few.
Sheriff’s Special Victims Bureau detectives recovered another 250 additional photos from the film processing business. California has a law that requires film processors to turn in any suspected child abuse pictures. A note to the film processors: No that was not cough medicine and fake bugs for Hallowe’en you were seeing. In addition, the children were not depicting mimes for 3rd grade with tape over their mouths.
Police say they have also discovered a DVD depicting adult sexual “bondage,” which investigators say mirrored the bondage-type pictures of the children. The children were pictured with blindfolds and gags and Mr. Berndt had his hand over their mouths. The investigation began in October 2010 when Berndt turned in a role of 35-mm film to be processed, authorities said.
Finally! At least one of the processing companies did follow the law and turned in the photos to police in 2010. Another 100 photographs that were not turned in were found in his home by the police department. Naughty, naughty to the photo processors that did not turn him in. It might have saved some victims the torture and molestation they endured until someone did the right thing.
Another thing, imagine also you as a parent or brother and sister and what you would feel after the police had told you what had happened to your child and that it would be suggested that they be tested for sexual transmitted diseases? I feel like the only justice for criminals is to let the punishment FIT the crime. I mean really FIT it. A death for a death and rape for a rape etc. When you cannot fit it exactly then improvise. A child rape is like a brutal rape for the perpetrator daily until they are dead. I could go on and on if I had time. Taking a child’s innocence from them is so terrible. Like virginity, it will never be restored. If anyone deserves hell, this person does.
The Los Angeles Unified School District agreed last June to pay about $40,000 to settle its dismissal case against former Miramonte Elementary teacher Mark Berndt. The District had dismissed him on the grounds of unprofessional conduct, immoral conduct and evident unfitness for service. Berndt fought the dismissal. The District finally agreed to pay Berndt nearly $24,000 in backpay from the date of his suspension, allowing him to retain his lifetime health-benefits. He also received $16,000 to pay his legal fees. Subsequently Berndt resigned his teaching position.
The District had decided to pay him out to avoid being taken to Superior Court and possibly paying a whole lot more than $40,000. For the article, click here.
Prosecutors had declined to file attempted fondling charges 18 years ago against Mark Berndt, saying that they didn’t have enough evidence at the time. The incident involved a 10-year-old girl. It occurred in September 1993 but wasn’t reported by her mother to officials at Miramonte Elementary School until the following January, after her daughter had seen an “Oprah” show about inappropriate touching.
Mark Berndt has been charged with 23 counts of lewd conduct. He could face multiple life sentences if convicted. To read more, click here.
Does Mark Berndt deserve hell for his bizarre show-and-tell?
- Hell, yes, he probably did a lot more and a lot worse over the years. (97%, 449 Votes)
- No, the children weren't really hurt by his games. (3%, 17 Votes)
Total Voters: 465
Loading ...
38 Comments »
Fucking scumbag. That is all.
while this man is despicable and his acts are hard to think about, i had trouble reading this not because of that fact but because of how poorly and confusingly written it is.
Agreed.
This site is a joke. All the articles are melodramatic and poorly written.
I had a hard time reading this as well.
Good story Blueghost. I really like the personal touch in your article, if I wanted just the facts regurgitated I would go to one of the “news” websites.
I worked as a film processor at a Wal-Mart for several years and I’ve turned over more then my fair share of questionable pictures. But the rules are show them too the manager and he/she will deal with it. What happened after that I don’t really know. But I know that there are laws in place (at least in NM) where if I hadn’t have turned them over I could have gone to jail for it. More then once I’ve been yelled at by costumers for turning over pictures of children in questionable poses. (And no, I’m not talking about bath time pictures. Any idiot can tell the difference between innocent bath photos and child porn.)
Also, some film is sent off for development. Some are done by computers and humans don’t touch them until the owner comes in and looks through them. And there are also machines where someone brings in a chip and can make their own pictures that a film developer won’t catch. Sad thing is… This guy wouldn’t have ever been caught if he hadn’t of taken 35 mm film, something similar or hadn’t gotten lazy.
And this is what scares the hell out of me. And people wonder why I am paranoid about people without kids taking pictures of mine.
I don’t blame you. I raised a fuss and fight when my idiot SIL put pics of my kids up on her Facebook. I don’t put my kids pics on the internet like that. When family wants to see them, I’ll email pictures but otherwise don’t put my kids pictures up for anyone and everyone to see.
The acts this man comitted are atrocious, even more so because he should be acting as a great mentor to these kids. This article was really hard to follow and poorly written, the ‘fava beans’ anecdote did not fit at all. Articleson this site are usually of higher quality.
These days, you don’t need a professional film developer to print out photos. And just seeing a picture of bugs on a kid’s face, or a blindfold and a spoon held up to their mouth, isn’t necessarily something that would make you think abuse…I’d think halloween, and maybe some kind of taste test game like one we did at church last year (with fruits and veges). On the flip side, there have been situations where film developers have gotten a woman arrested for taking photos of her child bathing or breastfeeding, or playing naked outside. Anyway, regardless, I hope this man gets locked away for a very long time.
I don’t want to sound like I’m some kind of slut, but I’ve seen enough semen to know what it looks like. Anything that looks even remotely like it being fed to blindfolded children is going to raise my suspicions.
Don’t apologize or feel the need to explain yourself. Any sexually active adult, male or female, should have a basic understanding of what semen looks like… and know when to alert the authorities.
I don’t trust male teachers. I’m sorry. I know that makes me politically incorrect. I don’t like other people’s kids that much – to spend all day long with them. I know some women that love kids enough to teach them for free, but I am not one of them.
I don’t know any men who like kids that much, and I don’t trust the men who do. I’ve known a whole lot of men, and other than spending time with their own kids, none of them liked other people’s kids enough to make a nine hour day out of teaching them.
Ok, all you normal guys, you can come kick my ass now for making these comments.
I’m a software developer, and have been overwhelmed with work in these last few months, but my dream for when I am done with this profession is to pour myself into some classes and teach mathematics to high school kids. Why would I do this? Why would someone choose to love and nurture the minds and not the bodies of children?
Because I am made whole not by sex, but by my own unbroken soul.
For five years, four months and fourteen days my wife and I have been more than enough. In time I hope that I would not cheapen myself or her by the rather insignificant pleasures offered by a teenage girl. I’m not interested in the package and the skill is not going to be sufficient to keep me interested. That’s next to the fact that I’m a healthy adult male and I don’t want to have sex with children.
These are my words though. How can you trust my words if you don’t trust my intentions? How can you trust my intentions if you don’t trust my sex? Where can a beginning to trust start?
You know my name, ask for it and you can find out exactly who I am. You can look through my pristine record. I count Army, Marine, Navy and Air Force officers and enlisted as friends and recommendation. I’ve passed more background checks than I care to mention. On a daily basis I am trusted with more money than the richest fifty men and women on the planet have at their disposal, because I simply do not steal. I choose not to. There was a misguided time when I did not think stealing music or software was theft, but I believe it now. I have made restitution for these acts.
That all said, there have been other men, washed in the radiant praise of their church, neighbors and family who have done evil against children and others. There have been military men listed on this site who have betrayed their brothers, their uniform and oaths to do evil. Even parents did horrible things to their own children.
How could you trust me with children? What could I possibly do to allay your fears? What would I have to do?
Dont take this too personal, but in general, after reading all your post, i thought, “Thou doth protest too much”,…
Sorry.
I trust people because i choose to. My “instincts” suck, so mostly I avoid having to trust people.
Jason,
I too am extremely busy at work, but I took a day or two to think over my response. Unfortunately, my response is couched in personal experience. The world is full of inconvenient truths that many people disagree with but their disagreement does not alter the facts: most combat forces are male in this world; most daycare workers are female in this world; the vast majority of pedophiles and physical abusers are male. There is a reason people here call boyfriends the ‘live-in penis” and a preponderance of individuals who molest or beat children to death are male (with acknowledgement that we are certainly seeing an uptick in fruitcake teacher females who molest teenage boys).
I have personal experience of male extended family and friends who are predators upon children. Unfortunately. I don’t know any female sexual predators, although obviously they exist. There’s just not as many of them.
I feel that if I limit my children’s exposure to males who I know very well (my father, my brother, my husband) that I might pre-empt an abusive situation. Even then it might not work. Even with my best efforts and intentions.
So in reply to your question concerning how I might trust you, the answer this mother gives is: I don’t. I’m sorry. I feel that you are an extremely intelligent individual, and write some fascinating incisive comments. However, it is my deeply held belief that I must protect my children any way I can, if it is in my power, and part of my protecting them when they are small is not to leave them in any situation where they are supervised wholly by males.
Just my opinion and belief.
Misandry is as stupid as racism, but more socially acceptable
Yeah, but you’re talking about high school. People become high school teachers because of a love of the subject they teach. People become elementary school teachers because of a love of children.
A male high school or junior high school teacher doesn’t raise any suspicions for me, and if it does for anyone else, you might be too paranoid. (Yes, I know… no such thing if you have children and read this blog. But come on – who didn’t have an awesome HS teacher who was male? All of my favorites were, actually, and they were all as on the up and up as humanly possible.)
However, when it comes to elementary school… yeah. It’s a little weird.
I liked my male elementary school teachers, even if they did give off a bit of creepiness. Still, not trusting men to be elementary school or kindergarten teachers is really a double standard.
I worked in a professional developing facility for photographs. I’m here to tell you that the male photo technicians had literal binders full of copies of other people’s amateur pornography. Keep in mind that if you send that crap in to be developed, dimes to donut holes some darkroom technician is keeping it as his daily prize. You’re famous and don’t even know it!
The picture of a guy in pantyhose and boxer shorts is a RED FLAG!!! That picture is very disturbing. Don’t get me started on the mickey mouse hat,….
Forgot to say:
I wonder if he suplemented his income by producing porn. If he had an Iphone, he likely had a digital camera as well. So why would he use 35mm? I suspect it was to “shock” the developer, because it got him off, on getting away with so much for so long…
I think the fact that the law does not fully protect children, pervs like this should just be shot on sight. I fully support gun laws when it comes to crimes like this, what would be the point of putting him in jail, he would love to be raped in jail, I seriously hope someone in jail kills him. The prosecutors did not want to file a fondling charge for the 10 year old girl because she didn’t ‘complain’ about it till a year later?! WTF is up with that?!
I agree, the fondling charge not being made was stupid. Hell the girl admitted she didn’t know it was wrong till oprah had a show about inappropriate touching therefore telling her mum who just heard it for the very first time right there and then. It’s very plausible that a what 3rd grader, 4th grader wouldn’t know about everything that could be considered inappropriate touching. She was 10 most likely 9 or 8 when it happened and she was suppose to know it was inappropriate straight off the bat? she was just a kid for fuck sakes. excuse my language. Kids are suppose to trust teachers, not be paranoid and feel unsafe around them. Long story short before I keep ranting on, the school and or prosecutors should suffer penaltys. Te school for seemingly paying him off to not “look bad” when in fact nothing would of happened besides him going to court over the molestations ad the prosecutors for not going ahead with the fondling case, there fore not helping a poor innocent girl and family get some well deserved justice for the crime he did. I don’t take kindly to child molestation at all and nether should have they. Sorry about my spelling and long winded rant about this but I’m hoping its understood due to my anger about how they handled this child molester with the girls case and all. Glad his finally behind bars were, lets say inmates won’t be giving him sch a warm welcome when they find out :)
They might want to see if he used to always use the some photo developer. If so, it might not be an accident that (until the last batch) all of his photos “slipped through.” Maybe his original developer quit, moved, retired, died, or was arrested. Or did he always just use different developers?
This guy is gross as hell. But, i wonder if he led up to the criminal games with games where nothing much happened. He’d only have to do it once or twice using an untainted cookie, then he could move on to the sick stuff and even the blindfolded kid might feel very confused at first. Poor kids. It makes me so sad all the years of trauma he has caused.
Looking more closely at the mousehat photo… look at the little girl dressed as a princess and the photos in the background.. he’s probably not just a lone nut. They need to arrest his associates and customers. It might be a difficult investigation, but those kids need justice. Plus, it will protect other kids.
I can’t think of any male teacher of little kids. In 7th grade, i started having male teachers. Most of them were nice. One was a perv. He was always spanking young boys. As in for nothing.
the school wussed and paid him out? If i read that last part right?
my daughters have a male teacher at their school (he was my oldest’s teacher for one class until they did a switch up) and I would trust him. Good grief though im almost at the point to home school & travel the world with them right now though..
There are some wonderful, nurturing male teachers out there (I’m a teacher and I work with some) and it’s a shame to cast all men as predators like this creep. Children need strong, caring men in their lives just as much as they need women.
I am married to a wonderful man who has had a long career teaching elementary and middle school (various grades and subjects; right now he’s teaching fifth grade). His mother was a teacher, and she was proud to see him follow in her footsteps. He loves teaching. He is witty, creative, and patient, but this year he has a particularly awful group of kids. They don’t listen, they don’t do their homework, their scores on multiple-choice tests are frequently only a little higher than what you would expect if they answered completely at random. Nearly every day he comes home exhausted and disheartened.
He doesn’t love “spending the whole day with other people’s kids.” He loves teaching, and it’s his JOB, his career. It keeps a roof over our heads and food on the table. In a few years, he’ll have been working long enough to retire with full benefits. We look forward to that.
I couldn’t do what he does, day in and day out. Sometimes I don’t know how he keeps getting up every morning, but he does and he will. And he, more than anyone else I know, is deeply disgusted when he hears a story on the news about a teacher taking advantage of a student. More than once he has told me that if he ever, even once, found himself looking at one of his students in any kind of sexual way, he would quit his job that day and never go back. He takes his responsibility to those precious young people under his care very seriously – even when they make his workday a pure living hell. I’m not anticipating his having any trouble along those lines, either – he is a faithful, attentive husband who delights in my distinctly womanly (i.e., ADULT) body.
Frequent visitors to this site will know that women are hardly incapable of egregious behavior, including the deliberate abuse of children in their care. Let’s not let the assholes like Mark Berndt detract from our respect for the thousands of caring, hardworking, longsuffering male teachers out there.
Blueghost1 – The world has changed drastically in the last 20 years and being an overly protective parent is what is needed to protect our children; don’t feel bad about it, though you might want to learn to properly shadow the bus so your child cannot detect you.
Thanks for those thoughts mrethiopian and all of you that wrote on the story I wrote
Sick FUCK! I hope that he is having to gargle Big Bubba’s sperm while he is behind bars!
The perversion here is disgusting so WARNING; the weak stomach and weak hearted please adjust your reading material back to Bambi.
This stuff is sick, but it’s not as bad as the other stuff I’ve read about here. Berndt didn’t rape anyone, didn’t kill anyone or seriously injure anyone.
This stuff is sick, but not as bad as the other stuff I’ve read here. He didn’t kill, seriously injure, rape or sodomize anyone, as far as we know. I feel like people’s reactions are no different here than elsewhere, which suggests no sense of proportion.
I don’t think he should go to Hell, just Purgatory for a thousand years or so.
this f*cker is sick and i hope he has a heart attack in prison and his body gets mutaley raped
Sick people like this need to be executed. They gave that Smyrnes Pig the Chair! this sick freak should get the same. Smyrnes, Wesley School run by Aunt Nancy -Alexy. This Mark Burndt is an absolute Sicko!