Did Simi Valley Unified School District Mislead Parents About a "Founded" Kill List — And Did Superintendent Hani Youssef Know?
The Simi Valley Police Department's CAD report says a fifth grader's threat to kill classmates was "founded". Simi Valley Unified School District students told parents it wasn't a credible threat. The distance between those two statements looks a lot like a cover-up — and raises a harder question about whether Simi Valley Unified has lost control of student safety.
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SIMI VALLEY — The Simi Valley Police Department, a city agency separate from the school district, was called to Crestview Elementary School on a threat report and determined that a fifth-grade student had made a list of classmates she wanted to kill. The department marked the report "Founded" — the label police use when a reported offense is confirmed to have happened.
The school district's public account of what happened does not match the police record in several ways. This article compares the two.
What the Simi Valley Police Department Report Says
The record is a computer-aided dispatch report for call SV 2026-4553. The Simi Valley Police Department released it to The American Federalist under public records request PRA-2026-294.
The call came in over a business line in February 2026 and was logged as a "threats made investigation." The location is listed as Crestview Elementary School, 900 Crosby Ave. in Simi Valley. According to the report's initial call remarks, the person who reported it was at the school office and said their child's name "was on a 'kill list' made by another student." The same remarks state that the reporting party had "contacted school board and superintendent but has received no response since Tuesday," and that a "principal would not give any info to" the parent.
Officers were dispatched to the school and arrived on scene. The record lists a report number, 4553, and two officers, Casey Nicholson and Jorge Pineda. Pineda is marked as a former officer who has since left the department.
The report has a field labeled "Founded?" — the police term for whether a reported offense actually took place. The entry reads "Yes." A separate field, "Report?," also reads "Yes." The officers' closing summary states: "5th grader created a list of other students she wanted to 'kill.' Incident report to follow." The call was cleared with a final code of "no further action required" and a study code of "no special circumstances." The student is a minor and is not named here.
In police terminology, a "Founded" finding means officers determined that the reported offense did occur. It does not by itself decide whether anyone will be charged; that is a separate decision made later in the process. The report does not describe what, if anything, happened to the student, and it does not record any injuries or arrests.
What Simi Valley Unified School District Public Relations Office Jake Finch Says
In a written statement, district spokeswoman Jake Finch called the incident "a confidential student matter" that "took place in late January." She said it "was thoroughly addressed through the appropriate school safety and administrative processes." The police call and the "Founded" finding are both dated February 2026.
"The matter was determined not to be a credible threat," Finch wrote. "There is no current threat to the health or safety of students or staff at Crestview Elementary School." She added: "Because of the student privacy laws, we will not be able to answer any further questions about this incident."
The statement does not match the police record on one key point. Finch called the matter "not a credible threat." The police label for the report is "Founded."
The gap between the two accounts raises a question the record does not resolve: whether the district's public description accurately conveyed to parents what had happened, or whether it minimized it. Police confirmed the reported offense as "Founded" — that a fifth grader had made a list of classmates she wanted to kill. The district, by contrast, told parents the matter was "not a credible threat" and "a confidential student matter" that had been "thoroughly addressed," without stating publicly that police had confirmed the list or marked the report "Founded." Some parents have said the district's account left them unaware of the nature of what had occurred. The record does not establish the district's intent in choosing that language, and the district has declined to answer questions about it, citing student privacy laws. What it does show is a difference between what the police record documents and what the district told the public.
Allegations Of a Cover-Up of Physical Abuse of Simi Valley Unified School District Special Education Students
Finch was the district's spokeswoman during an earlier case that also involved a claim of concealment. In 2019, the mothers of four children in a moderate-to-severe special-day class at Garden Grove Elementary School in Simi Valley filed a civil lawsuit in Ventura County Superior Court. The suit said a special-education teacher had physically, verbally and emotionally abused the students, and that district officials had known about it and hid it. "The district's deliberate indifference toward the plaintiffs' abuse and known cover up of the abuse is egregious, appalling and unlawful," the complaint stated, as the Ventura County Star reported. The case later settled for $6.8 million, the Ventura County Star reported in 2021.
As spokeswoman, Finch denied that the district had tried to hide anything. She said the district took action when the allegations were first raised in 2015. She also said that neither the district's own investigation nor one by the Simi Valley Police Department had proven the claims at the time, according to the Simi Valley Acorn, which reported that "the school district said…there was no attempt to cover up the allegations of abuse". She said the district could not discuss most details because the case was in active litigation.
The families' attorney, Ron Bamieh, disagreed with the district's account. "The story here is the cover up," Bamieh told the Acorn. In separate remarks to the Ventura County Star, he said: "It's just repulsive. The whole behavior of everybody in that district is repulsive."
Why Was A "Founded" Kill List Investigation Not Sent To The District Attorney of Attorney General?
The public record shows no sign that the "Founded" report was sent to the Ventura County District Attorney for review. The Crestview report was closed "no further action required" at the police level.
A new state law on school threats had taken effect only weeks earlier. Penal Code section 422.3, effective Jan. 1, 2026, makes it a crime to threaten death or serious injury against people at a school. Under the law, a threat does not have to name a specific victim or involve a weapon, according to the Ventura County District Attorney's announcement of the law's first use. "This new law gives law enforcement and prosecutors an important tool to address credible threats before violence occurs," District Attorney Erik Nasarenko said on Jan. 30, announcing charges against a 17-year-old over a threatened shooting at an Oxnard middle school. "Threats against schools will always be taken seriously, and early intervention is critical to keeping our students and educators safe."
California courts have treated a student's list of classmates as a crime before. In one appeals court case, a 13-year-old was found to have made a criminal threat under Penal Code section 422 for putting a "hit list" in a classmate's backpack, the state Court of Appeal recounted. The Ventura County District Attorney has also filed juvenile petitions in school-threat cases, including felony charges in 2025 against two 15-year-olds over a bomb and shooting threat at Ventura High, as the office announced at the time. The records do not show whether the Crestview case was sent for review, or who decided to close it at the police level.
The Crestview Principal Is Named in Another Ongoing Lawsuit
Crestview's principal is Annette Babakhanian. According to parents in The American Federalist's earlier reporting, Babakhanian did not tell families at first that children had allegedly been named on a "kill list." She described it as a discipline matter handled through "restorative justice." Parents said they learned about the list from a staff member whose own child was named, not from the school. "My child and her friends were placed on a kill list at school," one parent said. "The principal was putting the kids through restorative justice but never disclosed that it was a kill list." The report's phrase — that a principal "would not give any info" — matches those parents' accounts.
Babakhanian is also named in a separate civil lawsuit against Simi Valley Unified in Ventura County Superior Court. The suit says she failed to protect a Simi Valley High School student. According to that complaint, as reported by The American Federalist, the student — identified as Jane Doe — faced repeated gender-based harassment. In a February 2024 incident, a group of male students surrounded her, catcalled her and, she reported, said they wanted to sexually assault her. Babakhanian, then a vice principal, received the student's written report of that incident, the suit says. The complaint alleges the school punished the girl — who had hit one of the boys while trying to get away — instead of the other students, and did not interview witnesses. It says the student later became suicidal before her family pulled her out of the school. The suit brings claims under Title IX, California's Education Code and the state's anti-bullying law. It names Babakhanian along with Assistant Superintendent Jerry Block, who is accused of discouraging the family from filing a formal Title IX complaint. The claims in the suit are unproven. Babakhanian later became principal of Crestview Elementary.
Questions As to Why Simi Valley Superintendent Did Not Act to Keep Simi Valley Unified School District Students Safe?
Parents said their messages to Superintendent Hani Youssef and the Board of Trustees went unanswered. One parent said they approached Youssef at a community event and reminded him about the earlier emails about the list. "He let go of my hand, turned around, and walked away," the parent said. The parent who called 911 also told the dispatcher they had already emailed the school board and the superintendent and had not heard back since the previous Tuesday.
The records do not show what Youssef knew about the "Founded" finding, or when he learned it. They do not show whether the report was brought to his office, or whether he saw Finch's statement before it went out. Finch, as public information officer, reports within the district administration, which the superintendent leads. The American Federalist could not confirm how the district handled the matter internally; the district declined to answer questions.
Some parents who raised concerns have said they felt pressured or discouraged from pursuing the matter further. Those accounts are among the allegations that parents have asked prosecutors to review. The district has not responded to questions about how it treated parents who complained, and the record reviewed for this article does not establish what, if anything, any district employee said or did in that regard.
The PTA
Jennifer Hooper, a Crestview PTA member, was reached by email in May. She said she knew of the situation "as a parent," but that the association had not discussed it. "Nor would it be," she wrote, "as it should be handled at the administrative level. I have no further information on the matter." Her reply shows the PTA had not been briefed on the matter as a group. Whether the PTA received the same account the district gave the public is not clear from the record.
Where the Record Stands Now.
The documents show the following. The Simi Valley Police Department marked a report of a fifth grader's threat to kill classmates "Founded" in February 2026. The district's public statement dated the matter to "late January" and called it "not a credible threat." The report was closed at the police level, with no referral to the District Attorney shown in the record. The district has declined to answer further questions. The American Federalist continues to report on the matter and has requested additional records.
What Happens Now Rests on the Backs of Prosecutors to Investigate the Kill List and Other Allegations of Physical, Emotional, and Sexual Abuse of Simi Valley Unified School District Students.
A "Founded" report closed at the police level is not necessarily the end of the matter. In California, cases involving a minor suspected of a crime can be referred to the county Probation Agency, which in turn can refer them to the District Attorney's Office for a charging decision, as the Ventura County District Attorney describes on its website. A report cleared as "no further action required" at the police stage can still be examined later if new information reaches investigators or prosecutors.
Prosecutors have been made aware of the matters described in this article. They received a written request to review several allegations involving Simi Valley Unified School District. Those allegations include the "kill list" report at Crestview Elementary, the physical, mental and sexual abuse of district students, and the intimidation of parents who complained.
On July 6, 2026, The American Federalist reviewed correspondence from prosecutors that wrote that they "take the allegations described in your correspondence very seriously." They have assigned an investigator to follow up on the matters raised.
What that review will find, and how far it will reach, is not yet known. A prosecutorial inquiry of this kind could examine how the district responded once concerns reached school officials — including how administrators handled reports of the "kill list" and the broader allegations of bullying and physical, emotional and sexual abuse of students, and whether parents who tried to report were treated appropriately. As the district's superintendent, Hani Youssef leads the administration, and Jake Finch serves as its public information officer; the record does not establish what either knew or did, or whether investigators will seek to speak with them. Prosecutors have not identified any subjects, and no one has been accused of a crime. Those questions remain open.
Additional records have been requested, including any incident report referenced in the dispatch log, and this publication will report what those documents show. Anyone with information is invited to come forward.
This article is based on the Simi Valley Police Department dispatch record for call SV 2026-4553, released under public records request PRA-2026-294; a public statement by district spokeswoman Jake Finch; email correspondence with Crestview PTA member Jennifer Hooper; prior reporting on a civil lawsuit against Simi Valley Unified in Ventura County Superior Court (case No. 2025CUCR054429) naming Crestview Principal Annette Babakhanian in connection with a Simi Valley High School student's harassment; contemporaneous reporting by the Ventura County Star (Sept. 20, 2019) and the Simi Valley Acorn (Sept. 27, 2019) on the Garden Grove Elementary special-education abuse lawsuit, including the district's denial of a cover-up attributed to spokeswoman Jake Finch and statements by plaintiffs' attorney Ron Bamieh, and Ventura County Star reporting (Feb. 23, 2021) that the case settled for $6.8 million; and public records and statements of the Ventura County District Attorney's Office regarding the referral and prosecution of juvenile school-threat cases, including Penal Code section 422.3, effective Jan. 1, 2026. Prosecutors have been informed of the allegations described here, including the "kill list" report at Crestview Elementary, allegations of physical, mental and sexual abuse of Simi Valley Unified School District students, and the intimidation of parents who complained, and have said an investigator will follow up on the matters raised. The Simi Valley Police Department is a municipal law enforcement agency and is separate from Simi Valley Unified School District. The student involved is a minor and is not identified. The claims in the civil lawsuits are unproven and are disputed by the district, which has declined to answer further questions, citing student privacy laws.The district has declined to answer further questions, citing student privacy laws.
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