ST. LOUIS COUNTY, Mo. – A former St. Louis County middle school principal is facing multiple charges related to child sexual abuse of former students. On Tuesday, attorneys representing the victims announced plans to file civil lawsuits and are looking for additional victims.

Cedric Gerald is being held on a $1 million cash-only bond. He was charged last month with second-degree sexual trafficking of a child under 18 years of age, sexual exploitation of a minor, possession of child pornography, attempted statutory sodomy – person less than 14 years of age, sexual misconduct involving a child under 15, first-degree harassment, sexual contact with a student, and two counts of second-degree statutory sodomy.

Lawyers from Simon Law and the O’Brien Law Firm represent the seven known victims in the case. The victims are from the St. Louis region, but the lawyers said Gerald worked in other school districts outside Missouri and believe there could be more victims.

“Five of the incidents are from Riverview Gardens, when [Gerald] was employed there. One client at Ferguson Florissant School District was a student there. We’re looking into allegations in North Carolina as well,” Grant Boyd, O’Brien Law Firm, said.

The law firms accused the school districts of not thoroughly screening educators and said the schools failed to act.

“The information we have suggests that, in this case, had districts looked into this person’s background, that this person should not have been hired,” Boyd said. “So, we’re frustrated that more is not being done by these districts to identify these perpetrators ahead of time before children are being abused.”

The law firms plan to file lawsuits against the Riverview Gardens and Ferguson-Florissant districts.

“We anticipate that filings will happen over the next 30 to 60 days,” Boyd said. “One of the other things we will file is charges of discrimination with the Missouri Commission of Human Rights.”

Attorneys are encouraging other potential victims to come forward and calling on school districts across the country to review their policies.

“When we’re handling these cases and talking about them in rooms where people are listening, maybe it’s not these school districts, but other school districts are listening, thinking we need to make sure we’re looking at all these same policies and procedures as well,” Mary Simon, Simon Law Firm, said.

Gerald appeared without an attorney last month at a bond reduction hearing and told a judge he has no pending cases or prior convictions. The judge denied Gerald’s request and kept the million-dollar bond in place. His next court date is scheduled for August.