And according to the Los Angeles Times, a former student of Berndt said the school was informed about Berndt's unusual behavior two decades ago, but did nothing about it. Marlene Truhillo told the paper that Berndt often moved his hands under his desk at the front of the classroom. She and other students had seen a jar of Vaseline in his desk. However, she told The Times a school counselor "just told us it's not very good to make stories up. She said it was our imagination. It was never talked about again."