Upon walking into the gym at Carl Von Linné Elementary School on the city’s North Side, a former student — who asked to remain anonymous — said little had changed since his time there in the 1990s.

The gym teacher’s office, with its heavy metal door that locked from the inside and dark window shades, looked exactly as he remembered.

Just beyond the office’s threshold, he said, he endured repeated sexual abuse over the course of five years by a former Linné employee, identified in legal documents as Isaac Vega.

The former student — identified in the litigation by an alias, John Doe — and his attorney conducted the walk-through this year as part of a child sexual abuse lawsuit filed against the Chicago Public Schools district. Initially filed in March 2019, the case spanned six years and led to a $1.1 million settlement approved by the Chicago Board of Education.

According to the lawsuit, the alleged sexual abuse began when Doe, now 40, was 11 years old and continued until he was 15.

Vega first met Doe outside of the school before joining as a physical education teacher. Vega also coached football, basketball and baseball at Linné. While the lawsuit was voluntarily dismissed in October 2023, it was refiled by Doe’s legal team in March 2024. During the course of the litigation, Vega was terminated from his position at the school in 2022. In the end, the school board agreed to a settlement in June.

“We were happy that we were able to reach a resolution that was satisfactory to our client,” said Mark Brown, Doe’s attorney at the personal injury law firm Lane Brown.

In a statement to the Tribune, Chicago Public Schools emphasized its commitment to student safety: “All schools across the District are committed to building a physically and emotionally safe teaching and learning environment for students, staff, and families.”

While the settlement ended a lengthy legal battle, Doe emphasized that it was never about compensation — it was about accountability and the hope that speaking out could encourage others with similar stories to do the same.

And that starts with him telling his story.

Following the death of his father in 1993, Doe said his mother was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. To keep him and his brother active amid her declining health, his mother enrolled them in sports through the Chicago Park District at a park near their home, Doe told the Tribune in an  interview.

According to the suit, Vega frequently visited that park, where he often sat beside Doe’s mother during practices. Over time, Vega developed a close friendship with the family, learning more about their financial struggles and Doe’s mother’s illness.

“They hit it off. One thing led to another, and he became a family friend,” Doe said about his mother and Vega.

Not long after, Vega secured a job at Carl Von Linné Elementary, the school Doe attended. Doe was 8 years old when they first met.

At first, Vega’s presence seemed positive. Growing up with an abusive father, Doe said, it was nice to have a male figure in his life who rewarded him with gifts for good grades and bought the family items like food and clothing.

But years later, the relationship took a dark turn.

The suit alleged that Vega began staying at the family’s home and eventually sleeping in Doe’s room, which led to the initial moment of alleged abuse.

The suit further claims that multiple school board employees knew that Vega was living at Doe’s home and spending time alone with him, including a school security guard.

A brief investigation was opened by the Department of Children and Family Services during Doe’s late middle school years. Still, according to the suit, Vega lied and pressured Doe into lying about the occurrence of alleged abuse as well. Based on former DCFS policy, unsubstantiated claims would be dismissed and any documents related to the case would be purged after one year — a practice no longer in place today.

Although Vega briefly moved out following the DCFS investigation, he returned to Doe’s home within weeks.

The suit states that the then-principal asked Vega not to contact Doe, but Vega refused, telling the principal that he would not stay away. Still, Vega remained Doe’s teacher and coach following the conversation between him and their principal.

Doe’s mother, whose health continued to decline, was eventually placed in a nursing home by his grandmother, who gained full custody of him and his brother, he told the Tribune. Because his grandmother was nearly 80 years old and believed Vega was a positive influence, she allowed Doe to live with him while his brother lived elsewhere.

No one, including Doe’s mother or grandmother, knew at the time that he was allegedly being abused by Vega, Doe said. He recalled a time when he was close to telling his grandmother about the abuse, stating to her over the phone that “he’s (Vega) not the person you think he is.” When she asked what he meant, he said he couldn’t bring himself to say the words aloud. He feared what would happen to him if he did.

For years, the abuse continued at home, school and at various locations around the city. Doe said he often slept in the gangway outside of his home during winter to avoid sleeping inside. When he could, he would journey in the mornings on the bus to his grandmother’s home.

But, by age 15, he began resisting Vega, though he described fighting a 30-year-old man as a battle he never thought he’d win. While the alleged sexual abuse ended when Doe was a sophomore in high school, he told the Tribune that the alleged physical abuse continued until he moved out at 18.

The two had no intentional contact for years, other than occasionally running into each other around the city. That is, until 2018, when Vega contacted Doe amid renewed investigations into DCFS complaints from the 1990s, according to the suit. Hoping for closure, Doe agreed to meet him twice.

According to the lawsuit, Vega begged Doe not to disclose the alleged sexual abuse.

Doe recorded those conversations, capturing Vega’s admission of alleged sexual abuse on tape.

“You were just a kid,” Vega said on one of the two recordings Doe taped. “The adult’s the one that makes the decisions, the adult’s the one that knows better. And I did know better.”

Typically, under Illinois law, recording Vega without his permission would be illegal. But in Illinois, if you suspect a crime is or about to be committed against you or others, recordings without explicit permission are permitted.

While the investigation follow-up never occurred, those recordings were later turned over to  Chicago Public Schools’ Office of the Inspector General, which conducted an independent investigation of this matter.

Today, Doe said he has spent years in therapy and is focused on his future. He told the Tribune he owns his own business in Chicago and said a strong support system of friends surrounds him.

Vega’s defense attorneys could not be reached for comment.

“Speak up, tell your story,” Doe said, offering words to others with similar trauma. “You’re not as alone as you think.”

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/12/06/cps-sexual-abuse-settlement-linne-elementary/