Los Banos cop accused of statutory rape makes first court appearance

MERCED COUNTY. (KFSN) -- Dusty Norris appeared stoic in photos of his first courtroom appearance.

His arraignment was postponed, but he will be charged with multiple sexual offenses.

While the district attorney and public defenders have said little about this case, attorneys representing the victims say they have a lot more evidence to share.

"These predators were trolling the school campus for victims for over 10 years," childhood sexual abuse lawyer Robert Allard said.

The D.A.'s office started looking into Norris while investigating Gary Bettencourt, another Los Banos teacher accused of having sex with minors.

According to a private investigator, Bettencourt exchanged sexually explicit tweets and Norris was also caught texting with one of his victims.

"The fact that you've got two different teachers, molesting at the same time, on the same campus, really is unprecedented in my experience," Allard said.

The victim's attorney says he believes the two suspects may have treated their crimes as a competition.

"They didn't like each other for starters," he said. "And as I mentioned, there's one common victim - so I am putting the dots together that I do believe that they knew what the other was doing."

Investigators say the sexual acts occurred on and off campus, some during school hours.

The Los Banos Unified School District issued a statement saying they never employed Norris and that he was hired by the Merced County Office of Education.

Still, the victims' attorney believes the district was at fault.

"If the administration had been paying even a little bit of attention as to what these teachers were doing with students during school hours, on school grounds, there's no question in mind that they would have been prevented," Allard said.

The attorney says the victims may sue, and, as for Norris, his arraignment date has been scheduled for next Monday.