California Dem Voted To Hire Known Child Sex Predator. Then History Repeated Itself.

A California Democrat running for Congress in one of the most competitive races in the country is on the school board that approved the hiring of a known child predator who went on to sexually abuse two students, according to school board records reviewed by The Daily Wire.

Randy Villegas, a Democrat on the Visalia Unified School District board, voted “aye” at an October 11, 2022, meeting to approve the hiring of Dejaun Jones as campus supervisor at Mt. Whitney High School, the records show.

What parents and families at Mt. Whitney High School did not know was that Villegas and the board had just hired someone the district fired a decade ago for predatory behavior, and that he would repeat that behavior just months into his tenure.

Jones, 40, had been terminated by Visalia Unified in 2013 from his position as girls’ track coach at the same high school after police investigated him for sending inappropriate text messages to one of his student-athletes. Jones was also investigated by the police for sending other inappropriate messages to students at a different high school.

Now Villegas is running as the Democratic nominee in a crucial Republican-held seat that his party may need to take control of the House. He’s taking on Republican Congressman David Valadao in what is widely seen as a toss-up race.

Villegas was previously in hot water for what many call a cover-up of the district’s sexual abuse scandals — voting to allocate nearly $14 million in payouts to five victims in closed board sessions. That includes nearly $12 million paid to Jones’ two victims, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Villegas, who is running for Congress on a platform of transparency, denies the payouts were intended to silence the victims, saying, “I stand by my record of public service.”

Now he will have to contend with records showing that Villegas and five other trustees voted unanimously to approve the hiring even after seeing a report that included Jones’ “Classified personnel report.”

A cover memo from the district’s human resources chief noted that every new “classified” employee was a replacement for a departing employee “except for the Campus Supervisor – Mt. Whitney,” but did not mention Jones’ history or previous employment.

The memo said the hiring of Jones aligned with the district’s commitment to “creating physical and social-emotional safety in all learning environments.”

Six months after the vote, police arrested Jones for molesting a 15-year-old student inappropriately and receiving explicit content from the underage victim. Jones pleaded guilty to all 11 felony counts and was sentenced to five years in prison, according to the Tulare County District Attorney’s Office.

The attorney representing the two victims called Jones a “textbook predator,” adding, “he should not have been hired again.”

The district told KMPH that it follows a comprehensive pre-employment screening process. The Villegas campaign did not respond to The Daily Wire’s requests for comment.