Guards sexually assaulted 6 detained teens in CA, suit says. The survivors are suing
Six people detained as teenagers in Los Angeles County juvenile detention facilities have filed a lawsuit, saying they were sexually abused by male and female probation officers, including one survivor who was 13 when he was violently raped in his cell.
The other plaintiffs were between 14 and 16 years old during the abuse, according to the lawsuit, which mentions more than 20 separate instances of sexual assault spanning nearly two decades.
The issue “has been ignored and unchecked for far too long,” attorney Tracey B. Cowan of Clarkson Law Firm, which is representing the case, said in a July 9 news release.
“Los Angeles County has knowingly placed children in active danger, when they should be helping them get their young lives back on track as they enter adulthood,” Cowan said. “The despicable actions of the officers who committed these assaults know the children in these centers are vulnerable yet still used their authority to prey on them.”
The county is accused of allowing accused child molesters to continue working within the county’s juvenile centers, despite years of “well-known” sexual abuse, a complaint filed July 9 in Los Angeles County Superior Court says.
The complaint details repeated incidents of grooming, groping and forcible rape by guards. The plaintiffs are suing the county and several probation officers for damages such as emotional distress, anxiety, depression, nightmares, flashbacks, humiliation, shame, anger issues, and more.
It is the latest lawsuit filed over alleged abuse at the county’s juvenile detention facilities by guards. Two probation officers were specifically named in the July 9 complaint, which says one is still employed, and 50 other unnamed officials are listed as defendants.
McClatchy News is not identifying the officers because they have not been formally charged.
Several probation officers put on leave
In December 2022, a 359-page lawsuit was filed on behalf of 279 plaintiffs formerly detained in Los Angeles County juvenile detention facilities over sexual assaults they faced from officers from the 1970s to 2018, The Los Angeles Times reported.
In response to a request for comment from McClatchy News on July 9, the Los Angeles County Probation Department said most of the lawsuits “allege misconduct from well over ten years ago, long before the current Probation and County leadership was in place.”
“We have repeatedly asked plaintiffs’ attorneys for the names of alleged defendants, as we want to ensure no alleged offenders have contact with youth in our care. Of the employees we were able to identify, some are deceased, others retired so long ago their records have been purged, and those who are currently with the Department have been put on leave pending both internal and external investigations,” the department said.
“Eight have left the Department, with two cases referred to the District Attorney.”
The department issued the same statement in an April 16 news release, about a month after it announced the arrest of a female probation officer in March in connection with engaging in sex acts with a juvenile detainee at Dorothy Kirby Center.
At least 66 probation officers at the county’s adult and juvenile facilities have been put on leave since January over allegations of excessive force, child endangerment or abuse, sexual misconduct and more, the Probation Department said May 13.
There are 540 juveniles in the custody of the Los Angeles County Probation Department as of July 9, the department confirmed.
‘Continuing, systemic problem’
In the lawsuit filed on behalf of six of the survivors, three male probation officers and three female probation officers are accused of abusing the plaintiffs from 1999 through 2016.
The complaint says that if the teens “did not comply with the (officers’) sexual demands, they were punished by having privileges taken away and/or threatened with increased sentences and confinement at County’s juvenile Probation Department facilities.”
In 1999, one victim spent three months at Camp Scott when she was 15 after she was arrested for petty theft, according to the complaint, which says a male probation officer repeatedly sexually abused her at the facility.
The officer, who was previously accused of sexually assaulting children, once ordered her to spend 72 hours of isolation in an area known as the “box,” according to the complaint.
While driving her to the “box” in a transport van, the officer stopped the vehicle and “forced (her) to perform oral sex and threatened to punish her further if she refused,” the complaint says.
The lawsuit accuses supervisors at Camp Scott of ignoring multiple sexual misconduct complaints made by a female employee and other juvenile detainees about the officer.
A Los Angeles Times investigation in 2010 discovered 11 county juvenile probation officers were found guilty or faced discipline over physical and sexual abuse of minors in custody.
“We filed this suit to shed light on this continuing, systemic problem and hold the County accountable for failing in its duty to protect our most vulnerable,” attorney Sarah Beller, of Clarkson Law Firm, said in a statement on the lawsuit.
This story was originally published July 10, 2024 at 9:11 AM with the headline "Guards sexually assaulted 6 detained teens in CA, suit says. The survivors are suing."
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