Teacher Tells Police He Abused Many

A substitute teacher arrested on suspicion of molesting a 10-year-old girl at an Ontario school told police this week that he had molested 100 to 200 other female elementary school students while teaching in Riverside, San Bernardino and Kern counties during the last three years, authorities said Friday.

Eric Norman Olsen, 28, who has worked for at least 13 Southern California school districts, is expected to be charged with three counts of committing lewd and lascivious acts on a child under 14, a felony, after telling detectives that he had inappropriately touched the girl in a class for students with learning disabilities, said San Bernardino County Deputy Dist. Atty. Jason Anderson.

Authorities are also investigating a report of a girl who said she was inappropriately touched by Olsen when she was 6 and a student in the Central School District in Rancho Cucamonga, but the Ontario student is the only confirmed victim, they said.

Several students at Berlyn Elementary School told investigators that, in June, Olsen had caressed the girl on the hand and reached under her shirt and touched her back when she walked to his desk with questions about her assignments, Anderson said.

Olsen also invited the student to sit on his lap during story time, said Ontario-Montclair School District officials.

When the girl said she didn’t feel comfortable doing so, students said, Olsen lifted her into his lap anyway, said Supt. Sharon McGehee.

The teacher told investigators he had touched the girl to become sexually aroused, police said.

Students in a class described as a mix of fourth- to sixth-graders alerted another teacher to Olsen’s alleged behavior.

Olsen, who lives alone at an Ontario apartment complex, is being held at the West Valley Detention Center in Rancho Cucamonga in lieu of $2-million bail.

In what was at least Olsen’s second interview with investigators, he made the claim about inappropriately touching other students, said Ontario Det. Diane Galindo.

Authorities have contacted schools and law enforcement agencies in other counties.

“I just don’t know how that person would have that many opportunities over three years with most classrooms full of glass and windows,” said Jim Varley, who is a spokesman for the Kern County Office of Education.

“I hope he was bragging,” he added.

Outside Berlyn Elementary, in a residential neighborhood, parents gathered with their children to check their class schedules.

Someone had posted cardboard signs, one of which read, “He Must Die.”

At least 13 school districts confirmed Friday that Olsen had worked for them, but none had received a similar complaint about him.

A principal at another school had spoken to Olsen at least once for having students stand too close to him, but there were no allegations regarding inappropriate touching, said McGehee.

At the Fontana Unified School District, where officials said Olsen taught 45 days last school year, educators were unnerved that he could pass the required fingerprinting and background checks.

“We’re kind of in shock, to be very honest,” said Supt. Jane Smith.

Olsen’s former landlord, who considers him a friend, described the substitute teacher as a quiet man who wanted to become a commercial pilot and get married.

“I would have put my hand in the fire for him. He was that good, that nice.... Maybe he’s making it up,” said Marge Simon, 83, who rented her renovated garage to Olsen for two years.

Olsen considered teaching a way to pay the rent while he trained to be a pilot, she said.

Records show he was certified to fly private planes.

Olsen, who was raised in Bakersfield, was fluent in Spanish and had studied music, Simon said.

He longed for close friends and to get married, becoming distraught a year or so ago when one girlfriend ended their relationship, she said.

Olsen wanted children, Simon said.

He was childlike in demeanor, she said, pointing to his frequent trips to Disneyland and to his bed, covered in children’s sheets with starfish.

“I said, ‘Aren’t you too old for that?’ ” Simon recalled.

“He said, ‘I like it.’ He was in his own dream world -- he saw everything as good and bright.”

Ontario police are asking anyone with information to call (909) 395-2764.