Attorneys are seeking a federal investigation into growing allegations of sexual abuse at Los Angeles County’s juvenile facilities for at-risk youth. Victims sought criminal charges after they said a $4 billion civil settlement didn’t cover their claims.
In a letter to the Department of Justice on Monday, attorneys from the Manly Stewart law firm said they represent more than 200 victims who alleged they faced sexual abuse as children when they were sent to so-called “boot camps” for either committing minor offenses or acting inappropriately.
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The attorneys allege the abuse went on for nearly 40 years, from the 1980s to 2020.
Lawyer John Manly told acting U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli that his clients were between 12 and 17 years old when the abuse occurred. They had been placed in camps either by a juvenile court judge or their parents, who wanted to rehabilitate them. Children slept in the camps and attended programs that mimicked traditional schooling, according to the county’s probation department.
The camps were separate from the juvenile halls that housed minors who had been arrested for more severe offenses.
“The sad and unbelievable truth is these camps were dens of sexual predation where LA County probation officers in charge of helping these children get on track turned them into human sex toys,” Manly wrote.
Manly said the victims may number in the thousands.
His clients were not involved in a $4 billion settlement the county reached in April that resolved more than 6,800 claims alleging sexual abuse in the county’s seven juvenile facilities as far back as 1959.
In June, the county also agreed to pay $2.7 million to a teen who claimed he was forced to fight in staged “gladiator-style” brawls in a detention center. About 30 correctional officers are facing charges for allegedly organizing and allowing the melees to happen.
In a statement to Straight Arrow News, LA County’s Office of County Counsel said those who perpetrate sexual abuse should face justice, and the county is working with federal, state and local prosecutors to ensure those suspected of abuse are held accountable.
Neither the county’s District Attorney’s Office nor the Probation Department immediately responded to Straight Arrow News’ requests for comment.
Essayli’s office also didn’t immediately respond to Straight Arrow News’ request for comment.
Lawyers demanded, among other things, that the DOJ determine whether federal crimes were committed, victims’ civil rights were violated or county officials concealed the alleged abuse at the facilities.
County’s juvenile facilities embattled in controversy
The victims’ lawyers alleged that several employees at the camps – including officers and other staff members, as well as site managers – ignored, and sometimes organized, the abuse.
“It’s worth noting,” Manly wrote, “that virtually all the victims are from minority communities in Los Angeles.”
Many of the victims have come forward since about 2022. But the Justice Department has been aware of some allegations for about two decades.
It entered a consent decree with LA County in 2006 to address some of the issues that survivors and parents raised. But Manly called the agreement a failure, as the abuse allegedly continued. He claimed the DOJ was misled into believing the county complied with the decree.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta recently requested that the Los Angeles County Superior Court place the county’s juvenile halls into a receivership for “failure to comply” with his office’s 2021 agreements.
“This drastic step to divest Los Angeles County of control over its juvenile halls is a last resort — and the only option left to ensure the safety and wellbeing of the youth currently in its care,” Bonta said in a Wednesday, July 23, release.
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More than 200 people alleged they were sexually abused as minors at the Los Angeles County Probation Office’s juvenile facilities from the 1980s to 2020.
The county contested Bonta’s claims and said Chief Probation Officer Guillermo Viera Rosa has been aggressively addressing problems that “plagued the probation department for decades.”
“Our hope is that a receivership structure, should it be approved, be used as a collaborative tool to help remove obstacles — not as an isolating mechanism that sidelines the people and systems committed to improvements and reform,” the county said in a July 23 release.
Demand for accountability
Manly said victims weren’t moved by the county’s $4 billion settlement as it didn’t hold anyone accountable for the alleged decades of abuse that plagued the camps.
“No one has been indicted,” Manly wrote. “No official has been called before any criminal court, nor before any legislative body.”
The county’s counsel sought to investigate the matter but said plaintiffs’ attorneys haven’t produced evidence in the majority of claims that would help identify perpetrators. The office added that the county’s Board of Supervisors would still reform its juvenile system to protect youth and get justice for them.
“That said, the County wholeheartedly supports efforts to ensure that those who have committed crimes against minors are prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,” the office wrote.
