A former San Diego school teacher who was convicted of possessing child pornography now faces allegations of sexual assault

In a new lawsuit, four former Bell Middle School students say their popular science teacher was a sexual predator.

SAN DIEGO — Four former Bell Middle School students are suing San Diego Unified School District and their former middle school teacher, who was convicted of possessing child pornography, for sexually assaulting them when they were students. 

One student tells CBS 8 that she is confident that other victims will soon come forward,

The former students, who all attended Bell from 2006 to 2012, say their science teacher, Timothy Hensley, groped them and made sexual comments to them. One former student told CBS 8 that she caught Hensley masturbating in class while watching porn during class. 

In 2012, Mr. Hensley was charged and later sentenced to nearly six years in federal prison for possessing child pornography.

“J.H.” whose real name will not be used because she is an alleged sexual assault victim, is one of Hensley’s former students who is now suing the district and Mr. Hensley. J.H. attended Bell Middle in 2007 and 2008.

J.H. tells CBS 8 that Mr. Hensley used her learning disability to get her alone after class. 

“I kind of learned a little bit slower than a lot of other students,” J.H. said. “I think that was kind of one of the catalysts for him telling me, you know, ‘Hey, you know you’re falling behind. You need to stay after class.'”

It was during those after-class meetings that Mr. Hensley, according to the student, groped her and would rub her chest. 

It culminated when J.H. approached Mr. Hensley’s desk, and he was watching pornography and masturbating in front of her. 

At the time, J.H. said the shock of what was happening prevented her from really understanding the abuse.

“My processing part of things was a little bit more slower, just because, you know, these are things that, again, me as a child, and in my adolescence, not really thinking there’s anything wrong, just because, like I said, I wasn’t exposed to those types of things and maybe I just wasn’t processing things fast enough,” said J.H.

J.H. said it took over a decade of therapy to understand the true impact the assault had on her. 

“It was a really tough time. I like, I attempted suicide at 15 years old, and that was a lot for me, because I felt like I was dealing with a lot of pain and suffering that I didn’t know how to process,” she said. 

Three other former students who are also suing the district say Mr. Hensley also touched and fondled them while they were students. 

According to a 2012 federal indictment, Mr. Hensley began to search for and download child pornography in the same time frame as the alleged assaults. 

U.S. prosecutors charged Mr. Hensley with five counts of possessing child pornography, some of which, according to the indictment, involved videos of children as young as 5 years old.

In May 2013, Mr. Hensley pleaded guilty to all five counts. A judge sentenced Mr. Hensley to 70 months in federal prison. Hensley was also required to register as a sex offender. 

According to the state’s sex registry, Mr. Hensley now lives in Northern California. 

Mr. Hensley did not respond to CBS 8’s request for comment on the allegations.

A spokesperson for San Diego Unified declined to comment, citing pending litigation.

Meanwhile, the attorney representing the former students says they remain confident that other victims will soon come forward.

Babak Shirdel is an attorney with the Los Angeles-based law firm Slater Slater Schulman, which represents nearly a thousand victims of child sex abuse throughout California, and currently has 200 cases in San Diego County over abuse at juvenile detention centers. 

Mr. Shirdel told CBS 8 that the number of cases from the past continues to increase as victims search for closure and seek to hold their abuser responsible.

“Oftentimes, these things have been on a victim’s mind for years and years, and I’ve heard this many times before, people who just said I thought there wouldn’t be any issue, any justice or ramification,” said Shirdel. “They assume that the person will get away with it. But, these cases provide the clients closure, to have their voices heard.”