Teacher, 42, is arrested, charged in sex assault

A former Hawaiian Mission Academy math teacher was charged Thursday night in connection with a sexual assault of a teenage girl over a five-month period three years ago.

Police said Bryan Lindberg, 42, who now teaches at Leilehua High School, was charged with 11 counts of first-degree sexual assault and five counts of third-degree sexual assault.

The assaults are said to have occurred at Hawaiian Mission Academy in Makiki beginning in October 2008, when the girl was 14, and continued until March 2009, police said. The victim is now 17. Lindberg taught math and computers at the private Christian school until about three years ago when he left for personal reasons, according to Principal Hugh Winn, who said police never talked to him about the case. Winn took over after the teacher left.

Between August 1993 and July 2006, Lindberg was a teacher at Waialua High and Intermediate, Wahiawa Middle and Mililani Middle schools, according to the Department of Education.

He was rehired by the department as a geometry and algebra II teacher for Leilehua in July 2009, said Aloha Coleman, Leilehua’s principal.

After Lindberg’s arrest just after lunch Wednesday at the Wahiawa campus, he was placed on paid indefinite leave and cannot return to the school’s campus.

Coleman said the school was unaware that police were investigating the teacher and that she was surprised by his arrest.

She posted a letter addressed to Leilehua parents and guardians on the school’s website Thursday.

"The charges stem from an alleged incident that occurred while the individual was employed at a non-public school," the letter said. "The Department of Education has initiated its own inquiry. The employee has been placed on indefinite leave and will not be allowed on campus. Due to the ongoing (Honolulu Police Department) investigation and because this is a personnel matter, we are unable to provide additional information."

The letter said Leilehua school "is committed to providing a safe and secure school campus."

Coleman continued in the statement, "I want to assure you that Leilehua High School will continue to be diligent in ensuring the safety of our students and employees."

Coleman said school officials planned to call all Leilehua parents with the same message Thursday night.

According to a divorce decree filed in Hawaii in 1999, Lindberg was born in Minnesota and married for five years.

His ex-wife, of Mililani, said she believed the marriage was broken because Lindberg refused to move back home and because he said "that he needs to seek professional therapy but has not made an appointment to see a therapist," the court document said.