Five former students of Eleanor Roosevelt High School in Eastvale have filed a civil lawsuit against the Corona-Norco Unified School District, and former teacher/coach Joe Robles Jr. The lawsuit claims that the district failed to protect its students. Robles was convicted of multiple counts of sexual assault in 2020.
James Warren Lewis is the lawyer representing the former students. “The main thing would be to hold the school accountable for the lack of supervision of their students and Joe Robles, and also to make sure that this never happens again," Lewis said.
Lewis says Robles took advantage of the athletes and that his actions were a betrayal of trust. “What somebody like Robles typically does and what I believe what happened here was Robles acted like a father figure, acted like somebody who related to them," Lewis said. "And then Robles used that as an attempt to manipulate them, groom them, and sexually abuse them.”
This lawsuit comes just a month after a different Roosevelt High School coach was arrested for lewd acts with an underage student. The first trial date for the Robles case won't be expected for at least six months. The Corona-Norco Unified School District declined to comment for this story.
