A former Farragut High School student is suing Chicago Public Schools, claiming the district failed to do a sufficient background search on a security guard, putting her in daily contact with a predator who groomed and sexually assaulted her.
Romel Campoverde faces 11 criminal charges linked to his alleged abuse of the then-15-year-old girl in 2022, referred to in court records as Jane Doe. He has pleaded not guilty.
In the lawsuit filed Tuesday in Cook County court, Doe claims CPS hired Campoverde despite a lengthy criminal record of 16 arrests and indications that Campoverde was an avowed gang member.
“What Romel Campoverde did to me changed everything,” Doe said in a statement provided by her attorney, Mark Brown. “I used to be a happy, outgoing teenager. I loved school. I trusted adults. After the attack, I couldn’t go back to my school. I missed a whole year because I was too afraid, too afraid to face my classmates, teachers and other security guards. Even now, I still have nightmares.
“CPS hired a man to protect us that they should have known was violent. They were supposed to protect me. They didn’t.”
Brown said the district’s “own policies and procedures” require applicants to provide written explanations for arrests and convictions, but “they did none of that here, and they were reckless.”
“Any parent, and really any citizen of Chicago should be concerned when CPS knows that it has a major problem with sexual assault and inappropriate relationships … [but] is only looking at the surface of convictions and arrests and not looking at underlying behavior patterns,” Brown said.
A CPS spokesperson said the district is “committed to the safety and well-being of its students,” but declined to comment on the pending litigation.
WTTW was the first to report on Campoverde’s criminal history and the district’s inadequate background check.
According to the lawsuit, the district didn’t adequately follow up on Campoverde’s criminal background. And the district didn’t make an effort to get police reports linked to the arrests that showed Campoverde was a gang member and that he had a “history of violent, dangerous and criminal behavior.”
Brown said he was able to obtain the police reports from the incidents through a public records request.
“Mr. Campoverdi was given a scant background check, where they only simply got a list from law enforcement of his convictions and arrests, Brown said. “They didn’t delve into that further.
“The arrests and convictions alone should have given them pause on hiring Mr. Campoverde to be in a position of trust and to protect students. But then they stopped, and they failed to take any other action in order to investigate any of the underlying complaints made.”