CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) — Oswego Community Unit School District 308 has been sued in federal court over allegations that it hired a teacher despite knowledge of a pattern of predatory behavior.
The lawsuit was filed on behalf of a former Oswego East high School student, who claimed that red flags were ignored concerning a teacher who abused her.
Named among the defendants was Justin Query. The suit alleges that Query began grooming at least one student in the 2006–2007 school year while he was a teacher at Oswego East High School.
“I think what happened to me while I was in high school confused me a lot about relationships [and] about power dynamics,” said Diana Mondragón, the plaintiff in the suit.
Mondragón was a junior at the time. From the office of Disparti Law Group in the Loop, she told WBBM Newsradio that the grooming evolved into sexual abuse throughout the remainder of her time in high school and beyond.
“I left him when I was 25,” said Mondragón.
She said it wasn’t until much later that she would begin to reckon with it. In 2022 she experienced a mental breakdown linked to the trauma. Further investigation revealed that Query, her accused abuser, had groomed or bullied other students and that before her, a similar incident had taken place in Iowa.