Lawyers for an Ontario-Montclair School District special education student who was sexually assaulted by a teacher’s aide are pushing back against an expert witness who says the then-12-year-old boy was a willing participant.

Veronica Amanda Ramirez of Azusa was convicted after her Jan. 24, 2018, arrest by Ontario police for lewd acts with a child and oral copulation of a child under the age of 14.

Ramirez worked for the La Verne-based Haynes Family of Programs. Haynes operates a “non-public school.” Those schools offer educational services to special needs students with profound challenges that districts and counties are unable to provide. In this case, the school serves students with emotional disturbances, autism and Asperger’s disorder.

The boy’s family has sued Haynes and Ontario-Montclair, which contracted with them. Haynes’ expert witness, Calvin Colarusso, has suggested the victim, who was 12 at the time, wanted a sexual relationship with Ramirez and suggested she visit his house. During a Jan. 9 independent mental examination of the boy, Colarusso also asked a number of questions about the boy’s sexual experience, according to a motion filed on Feb. 5 by lawyers representing the boy.

The motion, filed by the Irvine-based firm of Manly, Stewart and Finaldi — the firm that’s representing multiple victims of sexual abuse by Redlands Unified teachers — wants Colarusso removed from the case.

“Plaintiffs are now even more reticent to tell their truth, as they face further persecution despite their roles as victims,” the motion reads in part.

The Ontario-Montclair School District said Colarusso’s involvement in the case had nothing to do with them.

“Generally, the district does not comment upon pending litigation because of privacy interests of the parties,” the district said in a written statement released Thursday. “However, any comment allegedly made by an expert retained by the Haynes Family of Programs is an issue between the Haynes Family of Programs and that expert.”

The Haynes organization declined to comment, citing legal reasons.

“We cannot respond substantively to your inquiry,” Katharine L. Spaniac, an attorney representing the organization, wrote in an email on Thursday. “This pending litigation involves privacy rights held by the minor plaintiff as well as his family; we are not at liberty to comment.”

As for Ramirez, on Aug. 30, she pleaded no contest to lewd and lascivious acts with a child and two counts of arranging to meet a minor for sex. On Nov. 2, she was sentenced to five years in prison. She received 552 days of credit for good behavior and time served while awaiting trial. Ramirez, now 26, is now imprisoned at the Central California Women’s Facility in Chowchilla. She will be eligible for parole in August 2021, or even earlier if she gets credit for good behavior. Ramirez will be required to register as a sex offender.

Staff writer Beatriz Valenzuela contributed to this story.