A man who claims he was molested as a teenager by a former Santa Monica Police Athletic League volunteer, who committed suicide after being charged with child molestation, filed a damages claim Tuesday against the city.
Rogelio Monroy and his attorney, Brian Claypool, announced the claim — a precursor to a lawsuit — during a news conference outside Santa Monica City Hall.
“I’m here to encourage other victims out there, because I know it’s hard for them to come out,” Monroy said. “It was hard for me.”
The claim seeks unspecified damages.
The former volunteer, Eric Uller, 50, was found dead in his apartment on Nov. 15 of an apparent suicide. He was accused of molesting four boys dating as far back as 1986. Uller was charged with three counts of lewd acts on a child, two counts of oral copulation of a person under 18 and one count of continuous sexual abuse. Sheriff’s investigators said earlier that at least another six people had come forward since Uller’s arrest to allege that he also sexually assaulted them.
Uller was working for the city as a systems analyst when he was arrested. The city placed him on administrative leave when the allegations arose.
Investigators said Uller would befriend teens in the PAL program, groom them, then molest them. Authorities said Uller molested four boys who were between the ages of 12 and 16 at the time the alleged crimes were committed — between 1986 and 1995.
In response to the damages claim, the city of Santa Monica issued a statement saying it “remains committed to responding to the horrific and heartbreaking allegations underlying the charges against Eric Uller with transparency and accountability.”
“The city will carefully review the claim submitted today and determine how it will respond. The city has engaged an outside law firm to conduct an independent investigation into allegations that the city previously knew or should have known of, but failed to address, Mr. Uller’s alleged criminal conduct,” according to the city. “The city is also retaining Praesidium, an outside consultant, to review the policies and practices of its current youth programs to ensure that best practices for preventing incidents of abuse are in place throughout city programs.”
Monroy alleges in his claim that Uller fondled his genitals under the guise of a physical examination required for him to join a sports team. Monroy claims he was 13 or 14 years old at the time.
“City employees knew or should have known of Uller’s criminal conduct being perpetrated against minor children, including (Monroy),” according to the claim. “(Monroy) has it on information and belief that city employees had actual and/or constructive knowledge and notice of Uller’s criminal conduct. City did nothing to intervene to investigate or stop Uller’s access to minor children through the PAL program, which directly led to the molestation of claimant and others.”