A sexual abuse attorney affirms that woke California’s public schools have a severe crisis of sexual grooming and abuse. Perhaps that’s not surprising in a state where teachers can legally and secretly “gender transition” children.
Attorney John Manly spoke with show host Catherine Herridge in a Feb. 19 episode. “The main issue is, is that there is an epidemic of sexual abuse in the state” of California, he said, “by teachers, by coaches, by other school employees.”
BREAKING: Leading Attorney John Manly alleges an “epidemic of sexual abuse” against minors in California Public Schools by teachers, coaches, and other school employees.
— Catherine Herridge (@C__Herridge) February 19, 2026
Manly exclusively tells Straight to the Point that his firm has uncovered over 350 cases of alleged sexual… https://t.co/FgOaUuYEWI pic.twitter.com/RXrHLOKCWm
Manly worries that both the school abuse epidemic and the Epstein files scandal illustrate the “view into how many people aren’t bothered” by child abuse. Countless powerful politicians, businessmen, and celebrities willingly accepted Epstein‘s perverted services or remained friends with him despite his pedophilia, and we have yet to see any major prosecutions for any of the disgusting crimes. When did our society become tolerant of what Manly called “emotional murder” of children?
Manly is an attorney in California, so naturally, his knowledge of the crisis there specifically is more detailed. Since 2012, he said, when victims could begin filing civil lawsuits for damages in California, “our firm alone… has discovered over 350 or 360 perpetrators, teachers.” He added, “And we believe there's many, many more. We know there's many more, because we certainly don't have all of the cases.”
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But his accusations were not strictly limited to California. Manly believes based on new data that up to 17% of public school students across the nation will likely face sexual misconduct within school environments.
Manly provided an example of one particular California public school teacher who co-opted imagery from a popular children’s cartoon character as he groomed and harassed children. “It was documented and there was complaints about Mr. [Mark] Berndt's conduct throughout his tenure through 2012, when he was arrested,” Manly said.
The attorney added, “He was exposing his genitals in class. Teachers reported it. He was wearing wildly inappropriate clothes, tight shorts with his genitals showing, wearing Mickey Mouse ears, photographing children, talking openly, taking children in his classroom after class alone in violation of rules, just year after year after year after year, principal after principal after principal.”
And therein we see part of the reason why there is such a sexual abuse epidemic in California public schools, which is that even staff who do not commit abuse themselves seem perfectly willing to cover up for those who do. Obviously, that is not a comprehensive statement, but based on Manly’s testimony, it is much more common than most people realize. The attorney also accused teachers’ unions of helping to protect abusive teachers and quietly reassigning them in a process that he calls “passing the trash.”
Ultimately, Manly wants the Department of Education and Congress, along with the Department of Justice, to address the public school abuse crisis. After all, the teachers and staff abusing children are receiving taxpayer-funded salaries.
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