The Santa Monica City Council held a special meeting, Monday night, Oct. 20, to hear another round of claims related to the Eric Uller sexual abuse case, potentially adding to what is already the most costly single-perpetrator sexual abuse disbursement by any municipality in California history.
The city has paid more than $200 million to victims of Uller, a former civilian employee and volunteer with the Santa Monica Police Activities League who sexually abused children over more than a decade. The settlements resolved hundreds of claims from individuals who alleged Uller molested them as children between 1987 and 1999.
The new claims hearing suggests the financial toll may continue to grow for the city, which has already tapped self-insurance reserves and general funds to cover settlements. Santa Monica is also suing excess insurance carriers to recover portions of the payouts that insurers have refused to reimburse.
A Pattern of Abuse
Uller used his position as a PAL volunteer and police department IT employee to prey on vulnerable children, predominantly Latino boys from Santa Monica's Pico neighborhood.
He portrayed himself as a law enforcement authority figure, driving unmarked police cars and flashing a badge to lure children. Victims reported that Uller groomed them with gifts including cash, sneakers, video games and trips to baseball games, while threatening some with deportation or jail if they reported the abuse.
Warning signs emerged as early as the 1990s. In 1995, a PAL employee reported that Uller offered to "clean" a boy's penis under the pretense that his father was a doctor. When she reported the incident, her supervisor warned her not to "spread gossip" and threatened disciplinary action. Santa Monica police interviewed the child but dismissed the incident as a "misunderstanding."
Multiple city employees and police officers raised concerns over the years about Uller's relationships with boys, including reports of him taking minors to his home and on unsanctioned trips. In the early 2000s, child pornography was discovered on a work computer linked to Uller. Despite these red flags, no formal investigation or discipline occurred.
Justice Denied
The case finally unraveled in spring 2018 when Santa Monica police received an anonymous tip and referred the matter to the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. Detectives arrested Uller and the district attorney filed five felony counts four days later, including lewd acts upon a child and oral copulation of a minor.
Uller was later found dead by suicide in his apartment, before the case could proceed to trial and all criminal proceedings were dismissed following his death.
A Record Setting Failure to Protect Kids
The Uller case ranks among the largest institutional child sexual abuse scandals in terms of both victim count and financial settlements.
For a single perpetrator, it exceeds the Penn State Jerry Sandusky case, which involved 35 victims and resulted in $109 million in payouts. It approaches the scope of the Los Angeles Unified School District's Miramonte Elementary case, where teacher Mark Berndt abused approximately 150 students, leading to roughly $170 million in settlements. Michigan State University paid $500 million in 2018 to 332 victims of Larry Nassar, who abused athletes under the guise of medical treatment. USA Gymnastics and the U.S. Olympic Committee together paid $380 million to Nassar's victims.
The case falls far short of some of the recent institutional abuses. The Boy Scouts of America bankruptcy involved 82,000 claimants and a $2.46 billion settlement trust. The Catholic Church has paid an estimated $3 billion nationwide since the 1980s, with the Los Angeles Archdiocese alone surpassing $1.5 billion in recent settlements.
What distinguishes Santa Monica's case is the concentration of abuse by one individual within a single municipal program, resulting in an extraordinary per-capita financial burden for a city of its size.
Ongoing Impact
The settlements have contributed to a budget crisis in Santa Monica. By 2025, city officials cited Uller-related payouts as a major factor in the city’s budget problems alongside pandemic-related revenue losses. The city has curtailed projects and dropped plans to host certain 2028 Olympic events to avoid additional costs. The scandal also damaged public trust, particularly in the Pico neighborhood where most victims lived.
In response, Santa Monica implemented comprehensive reforms. The city hired abuse prevention expert Praesidium Inc. to audit all youth programs and created a Child Protection Committee with a designated officer to oversee safety measures. New protocols include enhanced background checks for all volunteers, mandatory child abuse reporter training for city employees, a citywide code of conduct for interactions with youth, and stricter oversight requiring two adults present during youth activities.