SOUTH LOS ANGELES (KTLA) -- An elementary school teacher accused of gagging and blindfolding students, putting cockroaches on their faces and feeding them semen, appeared in court Wednesday.
61-year-old Mark Berndt, a former third grade teacher at Miramonte Elementary School, had his arraignment postponed, but the court corrected an earlier error in Berndt's bail amount.
District Attorney Spokesperson Sandi Gibbons says bail was set at $2.3 million due to a typo on the original complaint.
Berndt's actual bail amount is $23 million, $1 million for each of the 23 felony counts of lewd acts on a child against him.
If convicted, Berndt faces multiple years to life in prison. He's due back in court Feb. 21.
Meantime, five more alleged victims have contacted sheriff's investigators since they announced Berndt's arrest on Tuesday.
The allegations must be verified to determine whether any additional charges can be filed against Berdnt, authorities said.
Berndt was arrested at his home in Torrance on Monday after a year-long investigation.
Police say the crimes occurred between 2008 and 2010, and involved boys and girls between 6 and 10 years old.
Berndt allegedly told the children they would be playing "a game."
The investigation began in October 2010 when Berndt turned in a roll of 35-mm film to be processed at a CVS in Redondo Beach, authorities said.
Employees at the store found more than 40 photographs of kids in a school classroom, with their eyes blindfolded and mouths covered with tape.
They notified police as required by California law.
Some of the photos depicted Berndt with his arm around the children, or with his hand over their mouths, according to police.
Sheriff's Lt. Carlos Marquez of the Special Victims Bureau said it was determined the children were given semen on a spoon or on a cookie.
A blue plastic spoon and container found in the trash in Berndt's classroom tested positive for semen, and the DNA matched Berndt, authorities said.
None of the photos showed the students actually eating the semen, but Marquez said the children reported they didn't like the taste.
There were also photos of children with large, live Madagascar-type cockroaches on their faces and mouths.
Sheriff's detectives served a search warrant at Berndt's home in Torrance, where they found 100 others, depicting similar scenes.
61-year-old Mark Berndt, a former third grade teacher at Miramonte Elementary School, had his arraignment postponed, but the court corrected an earlier error in Berndt's bail amount.
District Attorney Spokesperson Sandi Gibbons says bail was set at $2.3 million due to a typo on the original complaint.
Berndt's actual bail amount is $23 million, $1 million for each of the 23 felony counts of lewd acts on a child against him.
If convicted, Berndt faces multiple years to life in prison. He's due back in court Feb. 21.
Meantime, five more alleged victims have contacted sheriff's investigators since they announced Berndt's arrest on Tuesday.
The allegations must be verified to determine whether any additional charges can be filed against Berdnt, authorities said.
Berndt was arrested at his home in Torrance on Monday after a year-long investigation.
Police say the crimes occurred between 2008 and 2010, and involved boys and girls between 6 and 10 years old.
Berndt allegedly told the children they would be playing "a game."
The investigation began in October 2010 when Berndt turned in a roll of 35-mm film to be processed at a CVS in Redondo Beach, authorities said.
Employees at the store found more than 40 photographs of kids in a school classroom, with their eyes blindfolded and mouths covered with tape.
They notified police as required by California law.
Some of the photos depicted Berndt with his arm around the children, or with his hand over their mouths, according to police.
Sheriff's Lt. Carlos Marquez of the Special Victims Bureau said it was determined the children were given semen on a spoon or on a cookie.
A blue plastic spoon and container found in the trash in Berndt's classroom tested positive for semen, and the DNA matched Berndt, authorities said.
None of the photos showed the students actually eating the semen, but Marquez said the children reported they didn't like the taste.
There were also photos of children with large, live Madagascar-type cockroaches on their faces and mouths.
Sheriff's detectives served a search warrant at Berndt's home in Torrance, where they found 100 others, depicting similar scenes.
