Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District (SMMUSD) complaints over alleged vandalism at the Malibu High School (MHS) campus over summer 2015 landed dead on arrival.
According to Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department officials, the LA County District Attorney’s office will not file charges in connection to the complaint, which SMMUSD Superintendent Sandra Lyon alleged involved thousands of dollars of damages to the school’s campus.
“The case was presented to the District Attorney’s office on the 19th [of November] and they declined to file charges,” Sgt. Matthew Dunn of the Malibu/Lost Hills Sheriff’s Station told The Malibu Times on Tuesday, Nov. 24. “That is the end of our investigation — the local law enforcement investigation — regarding that particular incident.”
SMMUSD spokespeople did not offer a comment regarding the declination, stating that they “have not received information from either the DA (District Attorney) or sheriff’s office,” as of Tuesday afternoon.
District spokesperson Gail Pinsker also stated that a monetary estimate for repairs needed at the campus due to the suspected criminal vandalism was not available Tuesday afternoon, nor was a plan for how such repairs may be funded.
Malibu parent and America Unites leader Jennifer deNicola offered statements to The Malibu Times following news that the DA was not pursuing charges. DeNicola, though not officially mentioned by sheriff’s deputies or school district spokespeople, was considered by many to be a primary target of the investigation.
“I am thrilled that when the facts were presented to the sheriff and the DA, they immediately determined that there is no crime,” deNicola wrote in a statement. “The district’s attempt to intimidate us from testing and enforcing federal law have failed.
“Not only did the district and their lawyers falsely assert there was a crime when there was none, but they insinuated that I would cause harm to children and teachers and nothing can be further from the truth,” deNicola went on to say. “The only wrongdoing is Lyon not caring enough about the kids and teachers to have the schools tested and the illegal PCBs removed.”
Earlier this fall, America Unites announced that new test results, showing PCB levels at MHS and Juan Cabrillo Elementary School above Federal safety thresholds, were sent by U.S. Representative Ted Lieu to Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Gina McCarthy. It was the sample gathering for those tests that resulted in the alleged vandalism.
PCBs, or polychlorinated biphenyls, were a common building material in the mid-20th century, but were later discovered to be hazardous substances. PCBs were first discovered in soil of the Malibu Middle School quad in 2009, though this information was not made public until October 2013, after several teachers expressed concern that cases of thyroid cancer among staff could have a causal link. This summer, the SMMUSD remediated PCBs in several classrooms, along with light fixtures throughout MHS and JCES.
Allegations of vandalism, which by general consensus among America Unites members were directly pointed at Jennifer deNicola, resulted in a rally of support for deNicola before the start of the Nov. 5 SMMUSD School Board meeting, which took place at Malibu City Hall.