Melissa Jennings filed suit against Chino’s school district on July 12, alleging that Oak Ridge Elementary employees handed over her son to a child abductor.
Chino Valley Unified School District declined to comment on these allegations.
The suit also names San Bernardino County and Riverside County as defendants. Jennings accuses sheriff’s deputies of lacking urgency in rescuing the child.
The boy spent three days with the adult male abductor, the complaint says.
The abductor is not named in the complaint and Follow Our Courts has not learned whether criminal charges have been filed.
At the time of the abduction, the man had a criminal restraining order not to come within 100 yards of the child, the complaint said.
The abduction
Jennings’ son was one of 25 students in his Oak Ridge Elementary kindergarten class, the complaint said. The abductor attempted to pick him up Friday, Aug. 11, 2023, the complaint says. The son was not in school that day due to a heat rash.
A school employee told the man that the child was not in school, then an employee added him to the child’s emergency contact list, the complaint says. A school district employee later denied that he was added, according to the complaint.
On Monday Aug. 14, 2023, Jennings took her son to school. She waited with the child for 45 minutes, until the school nurse confirmed his rash was gone. During her wait, employees did not talk with her about the man.
Ten minutes after she left, the man returned and asked for the child. The school pulled him out of class, released him to the man, and did not contact Jennings, the complaint said.
Jennings learned the man took her son after arriving for pick-up in the afternoon.
The search
Jennings contacted the San Bernardino Sheriff’s Department, who contacted the man. He confirmed that he had Jennings’ son. The department knew the man’s address, the complaint says. A sheriff’s deputy told Jennings to wait for the District Attorney Child Abduction Unit to call her.
While waiting, she called Oak Ridge Elementary, the Chino Valley Unified School District’s superintendent, the district attorney’s office and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, the complaint said.
On Aug. 15, 2023, Jennings won a second restraining from San Bernardino Superior Court, her complaint says.
Jennings’ friend watched the man’s address, and saw the son with him in a car. She alerted the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department, who confirmed the child was with the man. The responding officers allowed the man to leave with the boy.
On Aug. 16, 2023, The San Bernardino District Attorney Child Abduction Unit contacted Jennings in confirmation of her restraining orders, and ordered the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department to recover her son.
On Aug. 17, 2023, sheriff’s deputies found the son at the man’s known residential address, the complaint says.
On each day the son was missing, the attendance clerk called Jennings and said her son was not at school, and that his absence would be recorded as unexcused, her complaint says.
The girl was malnourished, and had not changed her clothes, the complaint said. She said she had been kept in a dark closet.
The suit brings claims of negligence, negligent hiring and supervision, negligent infliction of emotional distress, and negligence per se.
Brandon Wyman of Wyman Law represents Jennings.
The school district’s attorneys have not been announced.
San Bernardino Superior Judge Kory Mathewson presides.
Case No. CIVRS2400295
Read the complaint here.
Photo credit: Redfin
