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LOS ANGELES (CNS) - A former Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department psychologist serving a sentence of 98 years to life in state prison for molesting two young family members in La Canada Flintridge reached a settlement of a lawsuit brought on behalf of the boy and girl.
Michael Dane Ward, who was 46 when the lawsuit was filed in Los Angeles Superior Court in August 2018, was convicted a year earlier of four counts of committing a lewd act on a child, three counts of oral copulation of a child 10 or younger, two counts of forcible lewd acts on a child and one count of sodomy with a child 10 or younger. He was sentenced in January 2018, also in Los Angeles Superior Court.
The crimes occurred between October 2013 and November 2015, when the boy and girl were each under the age of 10, according to court documents.
“Ward preyed on plaintiffs' vulnerable ages when her perpetrated such heinous acts,” according to the suit.
Lawyers for the plaintiffs filed a notice of settlement on Nov. 4 with Judge Michael L. Stern, who vacated all future dates, including the trial that was set for Nov. 29. No terms were divulged.
In his court papers in the civil suit, Ward's lawyer, David A. DePaoli, stated his client is an “innocent man, falsely accused and wrongfully convicted. His efforts to exonerate himself continue.”
The boy is now 17 and his sister is 15. The suit was filed on their behalf by their mother and alleged childhood sexual abuse, gender violence, assault, battery and intentional infliction of emotional distress.
The boy was repeatedly tied up and sexually abused by Ward, the suit alleges. Ward repeatedly engaged in “naked wrestling” with the girl, the suit stated.
The abuses occurred at various places, including the plaintiffs' bedrooms, the suit alleged. In April 2016, the children told their mother about the abuses, which have impaired their psychological developments, the suit alleged.
Ward, who was primarily responsible for teaching and training investigative personnel, was relieved from duty in 2017 and he previously worked as a Navy psychologist in 2000-11, the suit stated.