Miramonte Elementary School: Second Teacher Arrested For 'Fondling' Pupils At School Where Kids Were ‘Blindfolded and Spoon-Fed Semen’

A second teacher has been arrested at Miramonte Elementary School, where pupils as young as six were allegedly blindfolded, tormented with cockroaches and spoon-fed semen.

Martin Springer, 49, was hauled yesterday from his Los Angeles classroom and arrested on suspicion of fondling two girls over a three-year period.

The latest incident follows the arrest of Mark Berndt, 61, a veteran third-grade instructor who was arrested on Monday and charged with 23 counts of lewd acts on children. He remained jailed on $23 million bail, officials said.

Berndt was arrested at his home following a year-long investigation that began when a photo processor turned over pictures to police that showed students blindfolded and gagged with tape.

Some of the pictures, which were taken in a classroom, showed students being fed what prosecutors allege was Berndt's own semen on a blue plastic spoon.

Other pictures showed students with giant cockroaches sitting on their faces and mouths.

Springer was arrested on information gained from the first arrest. It is not known if the cases are connected.

Parents have reacted angrily after it emerged Los Angeles prosecutors had declined to file charges against Berndt in 1994 after what sheriff's officials described as a young, female student's allegations of attempted abuse.

The girl, who was then 9 years old, reported that Berndt had tried to reach under her desk and touch her but that she pushed his hand away, prosecutors said.

Miramonte Elementary is in a mostly poor community near South Los Angeles.

The latest allegations against Berndt result from 390 photographs investigators have collected in the case, as well as interviews with more than 80 current and former students and school administrators, authorities said.

Investigators also recovered a DVD video from Berndt's home depicting adult sexual bondage activity that mirrored the bondage-type photos of the children, sheriff's officials said.