Posted on: Friday, March 23, 2001

Lawsuit filed in school molestation case

By William Cole
Advertiser Courts Writer

Brian Ibaan, a former Mililani art teacher who pleaded guilty in 1999 to fondling students, is being sued along with the Department of Education by the parents of five unidentified former students of Ibaan's at Mililani Uka and Mauka Lani schools.

Ibaan, 42, was sentenced to 10 years in prison in 1999 for fondling 13 of his 9- and 10-year-old students. Some of the students were from Barbers Point school, where Ibaan also worked under contract for the Department of Education.

The five girls, now between 11 and 13 years old, were sexually harassed and assaulted by Ibaan, who touched the girls' shoulders and breasts in March and April 1999, according to the lawsuit filed yesterday in Circuit Court.

The girls have since become uncomfortable around men and male authority figures and dislike school, according to the complaint.

The Department of Education is accused of negligence and infliction of emotional distress in the suit, which seeks unspecified damages.

Department of Education spokesman Greg Knudsen yesterday said a copy of the lawsuit had not been received and that he could not comment on the case.