By Jeremy Loudenback / The Imprint
Los Angeles County faced new allegations related to sexual abuse in its embattled juvenile detention facilities this week, the latest in a staggering tally of more than 5,000 adults who say they were abused as children in foster homes, shelters and probation-run camps and halls in recent decades.
A lawsuit filed Tuesday in Los Angeles County Superior Court accuses probation officers of rape, forced oral copulation and groping of six youth from the late 1990s through 2017 — young people the employees were tasked with keeping safe. The case is one of about 2,300 now before the courts, following a loosening of the statute of limitations.
Sexual abuse allegations have been filed on behalf of survivors now in their 20s to 70s. One case is as recent as March, when a probation officer was arrested on charges of having sex with with a young person detained at the Dorothy Kirby Center in Commerce, a facility serving youth with significant mental health issues.
Last year alone, the 5,500-member probation department placed 23 employees on leave for possible sexual misconduct, with an additional 18 since January. Eight others have left the department following allegations, with two cases referred to the district attorney, according to officials.
Attorneys for the alleged victims say the pattern is clear: Los Angeles County has long failed to stop rampant sexual abuse of children under the care of its probation department. Their lawsuit follows a recent report to county leaders thatshowed the local juvenile detention facilities were only 70% compliant with the federal law that sets minimum standards for rape prevention in all lockups.
“They have a decades-long track record of negligent conduct that’s been committed by their officers,” said Sara Beller, an attorney with the Clarkson Law Firm who helped file the lawsuit. “The fact that this type of misconduct has been allowed and swept under the rug — something needs to change.”
In response a request for comment, a spokesperson for the Los Angeles County Probation Department sent a boilerplate statement that the agency has used to respond to other allegations of sexual abuse within its ranks.
“Los Angeles County and its Probation Department do not tolerate sexual harassment, exploitation, or assault by or against any of its employees or those who have been entrusted in their care,” the statement reads. “We take all allegations of sexual misconduct seriously, investigate each one, and have robust policies and procedures designed to prevent sexual abuse and ensure the safety of our youth.”
The message notes that the vast majority of the lawsuits date back decades, and predate current probation and county leadership. The statement also says they do not all name specific defendants or provide identifying details, making it difficult to know which employees still work in the department. In the cases of named employees, some are deceased, or have long since retired and had their employee records destroyed.
A statement released by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 685, a union representing the accused probation officers, reads: “Any officer engaging in the conduct alleged has no place in the public service, and our Union and members condemn the alleged actions.”
This week’s lawsuit follows a flood of other cases filed in L.A. County over the past three years for incidents that occurred decades ago. As of May 2024, the suits involve roughly 5,200 plaintiffs, a county official who requested anonymity said. At least 2,300 of those involved allegations that occurred in probation department-run facilities, with most of the remaining cases linked to alleged abuse at a shelter for the county’s foster youth, the notorious MacLaren Children’s Center in El Monte.
The horrifying details that have emerged from the lawsuitsdescribe incidents of vulnerable youth being drawn into the exploitation through gifts and special attention that amounted to lascivious “grooming;” coercive tactics like threats and removal of privileges; and extreme punishments including solitary confinement for those who did not comply.
Those issues have caught the eye of U.S. Sens. Alex Padilla and Laphonza Butler, who serve on the Senate Judiciary Committee. In April, they wrote a letter to Department of Justice officials expressing concern about the recent sexual abuse claims in the county’s camps and halls.
“Many of these reports are not only deeply disturbing, but they also generate many questions regarding the DOJ monitoring and accountability protocols in place for these institutions,” the two senators wrote.
The lawsuit filed this week involves allegations from 1999 to 2017. A 38-page complaint details 20 alleged assaults during that time period and names 52 probation officers as defendants, including some are described by the plaintiffs as having abused young people in the county’s custody. Many more are accused of failing to report or stop the abuse, court records show. The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages for struggles later in life caused by the alleged abuse, including emotional distress, low self-esteem, nightmares, shame, self-harm and difficulty developing romantic relationships.
In one instance, it describes the experiences of a teenager identified as L.A., who was allegedly lured into a trap laid by a probation officer at the Barry J. Nidorf Juvenile Hall in 2016 or 2017. Court filings state that the county employee gave the then-16 or 17-year-old youth food and hygiene products not available to other incarcerated youth. Later, she entered L.A.’s cell and pulled down his towel before molesting him. The assault continued throughout the teen’s 14-month period of incarceration at the facility, the lawsuit alleges, during which time the probation officer used threats of retaliation for revealing the abuse. To this day, L.A. states that he suffers from chronic insomnia as a result of being woken up in the middle of the night by the woman he says abused him.
Another plaintiff, a 15-year-old girl detained for two months at Los Padrinos Juvenile Hall in 2011, alleged a probation officer took an interest in her and showered her with compliments. He isolated her in a van on a ride to court and groped her, she says. The abuse continued in her cell during mealtimes, court records show. Because of these traumatic experiences, she has attempted suicide and been hospitalized numerous times.
In 2005, a 13-year-old boy identified as M.B. recounted being awakened by the sound of his roommate leaving their cell in the Los Padrinos Juvenile Hall. A probation employee entered the room and ordered M.B. to remain face down in bed and raped him, the lawsuit alleges. Court filings detail the teenager’s recollections of screaming in pain during the assault.
The rash of lawsuits of late follow passage of the 2019 Child Victims Act, a state law that opened a window for adults to pursue criminal or civil claims resulting from incidents of childhood sexual abuse. In New York, for example, 15% of all lawsuits filed for childhood sexual abuse have been levied against child welfare agencies. With many agencies facing a staggering financial cost to settle the legal claims, New York State Sen. Jeremy Cooney unsuccessfully tried to pass a bill that would have created a $200 million fund to shield foster care agencies and school districts from the financial liability.
Other states, including Maryland, Colorado and Arkansas, have also passed laws that allow survivors to mount such lawsuits.
No other state or county in California appears to have approached the scale of abuse alleged to have taken place in Los Angeles County.
Attorney Stewart Mollrich — who was among the lawyers who filed one of the first lawsuits against the county for sexual abuse in its juvenile detention facilities — described the scope to The Los Angeles Times last year, calling it “on the order of what we’ve seen from the Catholic Church.”
At the time, the county faced 3,000 legal claims — far less than the total today — and officials estimated that settlements could range from $1.6 billion to more than $3 billion. For comparison, in 2019, the church had paid an estimated $4 billion to resolve cases of abuse nationwide, according to a Catholic News Service report.
In a recent budget document produced by the Los Angeles County Chief Executive’s office, the total payouts represent the county’s “most serious fiscal challenges in recent history.”
This week, further questions arose about whether the county is preventing the possibility of further sexual abuse.
In the wake of the accumulating sex abuse claims, the county’s Board of Supervisors requested a report on its compliance with the 2003 Prison Rape Elimination Act — a federal law that created standards for the prevention, investigation and reporting of sexual assault behind bars.
The resulting report released by the probation department in June found that the department was only 70% compliant with the federal standards in its juvenile detention facilities. The county received just 20% compliance in a category that includes investigation and services provided to young people after an alleged assault, and it tallied just a 5% score for data collection.
Youth justice advocates complained of similar shortcomings at a Thursday meeting of the Probation Oversight Commission, a panel that advises the county Board of Supervisors and monitors the department’s progress on reform efforts.
The department has continued to defend itself and its employees.
Chief Probation Officer Guillermo Viera Rosa wrote in the report to county supervisors that the Prison Rape Elimination Act assessment “does not reflect the significant commitment the department has made to enhance sexual safety within its juvenile facilities.” He stated his agency has recently eliminated group showers in favor of individual stalls, done away with double bunking inside cells and installed cameras throughout the facilities. The probation department is also working to develop partnerships with local rape crisis centers that provide victim support services, and improving its data collection and management, he stated.
Commissioner Milinda Kakani said in the wake of recent incidents such as the allegations made against the officer at the Dorothy Kirby Center, the department’s policies “feel decades old and presumably decades outdated.” She pointed to the need to reform grievance procedures for youth by providing better access to court-ordered counsel and to offer independent investigations rather than having probation officers oversee each other.
“Beyond just policies and procedures,” Kakani said, “we’re far away from actually ensuring that young folks are safe while they’re incarcerated.”
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