HomeCity NewsDistrict Attorney Declines to Prosecute School Board Member

District Attorney Declines to Prosecute School Board Member

The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office has declined to prosecute San Marino School Board Member Chris Norgaard, it was learned today.

In late January, Norgaard was accused of improper conduct and battery, apparently by teachers or staff members at the San Marino Unified School District, according to a press release from Superintendent Dr. Alex Cherniss.

On Monday, Jan. 22, Norgaard was immediately banned from all district campuses and properties unless supervised and he was forbidden from contacting any district employees.

The San Marino Police Department conducted an investigation and turned over its findings to the District Attorney’s office “two or three weeks ago,” according to Chief John Incontro.

Incontro told The Tribune that the district attorney “declined to prosecute the case because of insufficient evidence,” but he did not know when that decision was made.

“We received information from the school district regarding possible victims of sexual battery by a school board member,” Incontro said this afternoon in a telephone interview. “There were multiple alleged victims and witnesses identified in the report from the school district. All the information we received was provided by the administration. We took that information and interviewed all the alleged, possible victims and witnesses, and provided that case to the District Attorney.”

“This comes as no surprise to us and is completely as expected,” said Guy Glazier, Norgaard’s attorney and also a San Marino resident. “The San Marino Police Department never contacted our client, Mr. Norgaard, in this matter. This is consistent with the fact that there never was any accusation of sexual harassment or sexual assault, let alone criminal battery and, consequently, no basis for the investigation or the original press release to multiple news outlets.”

The district has no comment at this time, according to a spokesperson.

Norgaard, an attorney, has been a school board member since he was first elected in 2003. He was subsequently re-elected or returned to the board in 2007, 2011 and 2015. Due to a state advisory to change local elections to match the federal and state cycles, Norgaard’s current term will not expire until 2020.

For more on this story, please see this Friday’s print edition of the San Marino Tribune.

Assistant Editor Steve Whitmore contributed to this story

 

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