St. Bernard announces it is cooperating in federal investigation involving former employee

The principal at St. Bernard High in Playa del Rey and the executive director of Catholic schools for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles released a carefully worded statement on Tuesday to the “St. Bernard community” that it is “cooperating fully in an investigation by federal law enforcement concerning a former employee and volunteer” of the football program.

Manual Douglas resigned as football coach this month. Douglas did not respond to a text message sent Tuesday.

The statement said St. Bernard is moving forward in its search to find a replacement for Douglas, the former Narbonne coach who faced an internal investigation by the Los Angeles Unified School District before resigning at Narbonne in 2020.

Douglas spent one season as coach at St. Bernard and resigned on the morning of the team’s final spring season game this month for “personal reasons,” according to a statement sent out by the school.