Parents Of Autistic Teen File Lawsuit Against TVUSD

A lawsuit has been filed by the parents of a Temecula Valley Unified School District special needs student who was snared in a drug sting on high school campuses last year.

Doug and Catherine Snodgrass filed their suit against the district on Oct. 30, according to a report from The Press-Enterprise.

Doug Snodgrass alleges his autistic son, “who is significantly learning disabled and on a regimen of prescription medications for a number of psychiatric disorders,” was mistreated when he was arrested at school the morning of Dec. 11, 2012 and taken away for interrogation by Riverside County sheriff’s investigators.

According to The Press-Enterprise report, the suit accuses school officials of “malicious" conduct. The parents allege the district allowed police to target their son even though school officials knew he was a special education student with disabilities.

The December arrests were made at the completion of a "long-term investigation by the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department’s Special Investigations Bureau into allegations that juvenile students were selling illicit drugs on the campuses" of Temecula Valley and Chaparral high schools, said sheriff's Deputy Albert Martinez.

Doug Snodgrass contends his son was used as a pawn by law enforcement during the investigation. Prior to the arrest, a “student” by the name of “Daniel” had befriended the boy and become his school buddy, which Snodgrass said was a relief because his son had few friends given he was a new kid in the district.

After the arrest, Snodgrass says he discovered Daniel was an undercover cop.

As for the arrest of the Snodgrass’ son, TVUSD spokeswoman Melanie Norton released this statement:

"TVUSD continues to carry out our mission to educate students in safe schools. We acted in the best interest of our students in this situation. We followed the law as well as district policy in working with the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department.”