A jury ruled Oct. 10 in favor of two former Vista Heights Middle School students who said they were molested by their teacher, Thomas Lee West.
The plaintiffs claimed they were molested from 1996 to 1999, while they were in sixth, seventh and eighth grade. West began teaching sixth grade in 1996, according to their complaint. He was hired despite having pleaded guilty to one misdemeanor count of child molestation and serving 120 days in jail. He originally faced 10 counts of felony child molestation against his foster son, but pleaded it down, the complaint said.
“While there is no amount of money that can replace what was stolen from these two
