Teacher used ‘tickle time’ game to grope kids at elementary school, California suit says
A former elementary school teacher convicted of sexually abusing students in California would use a game called “tickle time” to grope children in first and second grade, a lawsuit filed this week says.
The San Bruno Park School District’s administrators knew, “or should have known,” that Jeremy Yeh molested students as early as 2016 and 2017, and that he was a threat to students’ safety, the lawsuit says.
The first girl to report he sexually abused her was labeled as a “liar” by administrators at El Crystal Elementary School in San Bruno during the 2016-2017 school year, when Yeh taught a combined class of first- and second-graders, according to a complaint.
Instead of protecting students, the district’s staff protected Yeh, who went on to work at Allen Elementary School in San Bruno after El Crystal Elementary School closed in 2018, the complaint says.
By not taking action, the district’s staff is accused of allowing the sexual abuse against at least 17 children at both elementary schools from 2016 through 2023.
The “female students were sexually molested, abused, harassed, manipulated, assaulted, and battered by Jeremy Yeh while he was employed by (the school district),” the complaint says.
Yeh, 34, of San Mateo, was found guilty on Feb. 28 of 17 felony counts of child molestation after a 16-day jury trial, according to the San Mateo County District Attorney’s Office, KPIX-TV reported. San Mateo is about a 20-mile drive southeast from San Francisco.
Attorney information for Yeh wasn’t immediately available.
He’s facing up to 425 years to life in prison in connection with sexual abuse against four students, according to KPIX-TV.
Two of those students filed the lawsuit March 3, after the jury’s verdict, saying the San Bruno Park School District’s administrators ignored their duties as mandated reporters by not taking action against the yearslong abuse.
The complaint says the school district’s staff “never reported Jeremy Yeh to law enforcement or any child welfare agency.”
“To the contrary, when interviewed by law enforcement, Defendant SBPSD administrators retained criminal defense attorneys and refused to cooperate with law enforcement.”
In a statement to McClatchy News on March 6, school district Superintendent Matthew Duffy said the district has “cooperated and worked closely with law enforcement.”
“The verdict sends a strong message across our community and throughout our public school system that those who work in our schools and who mistreat and harm students will be held accountable,” Duffy said of Yeh’s conviction.
His statement didn’t address the lawsuit.
Students accused of ‘spreading rumors,’ lawsuit says
During the 2016-2017 school year, several students told administrators that Yeh “pulled down a female student’s pants while hugging her and looked down the pants of another female student” at El Crystal Elementary School, according to the complaint.
The school’s administrators are accused of covering up the incident, failing to document, investigate or respond to it, as well as not trying to prevent further abuse, the complaint says.
The students who reported the abuse were disciplined “for ‘spreading rumors,’” according to the complaint.
The complaint quoted the San Mateo County District Attorney’s Office as saying: “The first victim came forward in 2017 but was called a liar by the administration at El Crystal Elementary School.”
The now-closed school’s principal and superintendent at the time could face criminal charges for not following California’s mandatory reporting laws, according to the complaint.
The district attorney’s office didn’t immediately respond to McClatchy News’ request for comment.
Grooming and ‘tickle time’
Yeh regularly groomed students in school and outside of school, according to the complaint.
Outside of school hours, the complaint says he communicated with students using online gaming and other platforms to reach them.
In school, he offered and encouraged female students, including the two minor plaintiffs, to visit his classroom in the mornings and at recess to “be alone with them,” the complaint says.
Yeh would award “points” to girls in his class if they completed “random” tasks, according to the complaint, which says this allowed them to come to his classroom instead of going to recess.
The two girls suing the school district were among the students “awarded” these “points” and were sexually abused by Yeh during his “tickle time” game, according to the complaint.
“He would tickle the female students and while doing so, touch and grope their breasts, buttocks, pubic region, vulva, and genitalia,” the complaint says.
The ongoing abuse and molestation deprived the children from accessing the education benefits they were entitled to as students, according to the complaint.
The lawsuit seeks to recover damages for the plaintiffs’ injuries, including a $25,000 civil penalty for each of them, as a result of the abuse. Their injuries include PTSD, anxiety, depression, distress and self-inflicting harm.
It demands a jury trial.
“Nobody wants to think people like Jeremy Yeh exists, but people like him are far too common,” attorney Bobby Thompson, who’s representing the case, told KRON-TV.
“These prosecutions highlight the need for our schools to be more proactive about preventing sex abuse.”
Public and private school employees, including teachers, teachers’ aides, and administrators, are obligated to report suspected child abuse and neglect under California state law.
This story was originally published March 7, 2025 at 11:45 AM with the headline "Teacher used ‘tickle time’ game to grope kids at elementary school, California suit says."
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