Kids reported years of sexual abuse by probation officers – now they want justice

in Los Angeles County officials predict they may pay out between 1.6 and3 billion dollar to resolve more than 2500 claims of abuse in some cases this was sexual abuse inside the very facilities charged with protecting and rehabilitating the County's Youth juvenile facilities run by the Los Angeles County Probation Department the story you're about to see is the result of our monthlong investigation into what's being described as a National Disgrace and an outrageous Open Secret long ignor we want to warn our viewers that this story contains accounts of sexual abuse that can be disturbing nestled at the base of this Santa Clarita California Canyon lies what looks like a summer camp but aside from the name camps got the comparison ends there when I got here I was excited because I was told that I was going to find this discipline I was going to find Rehabilitation and so I was excited about that but I found the things that I found here was the total opposite this is my last chance when she was 17 ryell Hartley was in the MTV documentary Camp Scott lockup a rare look inside the facility Camp Scott is now closed it's just one of several Juvenile Detention facilities owned by the LA County Probation Department which faces thousand thousands of allegations of abuse including rape and sexual abuse of children ryell was one of them everywhere I look everything that I see I just see his face the face of her probation officer Thomas Jackson ryell alleges in a lawsuit that he abused her more than two decades ago he's one of multiple probation officers accused of trading privileges for sex acts with children in the County's care he had me lift up my shirt to show him my breast I begged him I said please don't make me do this he said you do have a review coming up it's up to you how I write it he had the pin so he had the power another time um he made me grab his penis with my hand ryell and her former bunk mate Akila Jefferson are two litigants among the more than 2500 now suing the county Akila says in the lawsuit the Jackson then the Camp's acting director would order her to his office when she was 16 years old I he would touch me he will touch me you know crust me show me different things how did you feel in those moments first I was scared but if I don't do it what's going to happen especially if somebody's basically like caressing your head and sending you to the direction where they want you to go what do you do M you back here you're a kid you don't know if you say no I don't want to do this you know you just you do it so you felt you could never say no no I could say no she wound up in probation after shoplifting clothes for her younger siblings my grand didn't have no money to buy him you know so after a while I started running with these girls and it was like oh we can show you how to get clothes my brothers needed clothes I needed clothes so I would do that she then violated probation by missing school and that's how she ended up at Camp Scott LA County touts itself as the place for rehabilitation when you come here right do you see it that way I don't I see it as a place that broke a lot of children children who needed help many of them from broken homes a lot of these kids don't have families a lot of these kids mothers and fathers are dealing with addiction prostitution jail the criminal justice system themselves their runaways they're ward of the court so they know no one's coming to look for you they're black and brown black and brown black and brown Dominique Anderson first entered the LA County Probation system after she says she poked a classmate with a pencil when the police came they said you stabbed the girl with the pencil and that's a daad weapon and it's a felony Dominique was raised by her grandmother her dad was murdered when she was four and she lost her mom to cancer this is where she grew up in the Heart of Los Angeles it brings back those good memories Dominique was hopeful that the probation program might offer her new skills the department says its mission is to rebuild the lives of troubled youth instead she says she was groomed by three of the very officers who were supposed to protect her this is the last place I was a kid here at the crall probation department Ernest Walker was a supervisor in her lawsuit Dominique says that he picked her up from her grandmother's house drove her to a hotel for sex and then paid her $200 it was just okay well I'm going to pay you $200 I'm going to pick you up and he actually um orgasmed on the ride to the hotel how old were you when you first met Ernest Walker 13 you were 13 do you know roughly how old he was I believe he would had to be like mid to late 40s for her silence she says in the lawsuit Walker would routinely leave her money in a flower pot at this gas station I remember him telling me things like oh I love that your breasts are just sprouting he was really interested in the fact that I was so young can you explain what you feel happened over the course of time with him was it rape he was interested in me he paid me for sex and that's what I did you're not old enough to consent and that's the tough thing about being a victim you never see it that this person is abusing their Authority you don't see it as them praying on you as being a child you see it as this is a man of power this is a man of affluence this is an educated man he's a he's not a probation officer he's supervisor Dominique says after she reported being sexually abused by one of her probation officers she was then approached by a female staff member asking her not to blow the whistle she said he has a daughter he has a career he has a lot to lose what did you lose I think I lost my innocence my self-esteem there's a a saying that that Loosely translated in English is who will guard the guards and I'm wondering if you feel that anybody was no and it's hard it's hard when it's this pervasive cuz everybody's dirty you know what I mean who can you trust it is not just the person who is praying on the child it is also the co-workers who stand by and help these things go on it brings up some hard memories what happened while I was here when ryell tried to report her sexual abuser to the head of Cam Scott she says her own traumatic past that she was molested and forced into prostitution at 11 years old was used against her I reported it to the director and she opened a file cabinet and she opened my file and she was like well Thomas looking at your file you can understand why I can't just take your word for it it shattered me [Music] camps Scott is a place where problems can be turned into opportunities back in 1987 Camp Scott was the state's first military style detention Camp exclusively for girls touted as a model for the country Scot ryell and Aila still can't forget the training that was drilled into them 28 can if you want to see marching that's where you should go girls were told when they could eat talk and go to the bathroom they showered in groups and were punished with solitary confinement the goal was to scare the girl straight but it was the probation department itself that soon got into trouble in 2006 the Department of Justice began investigating LA's juvenile halls and camps it revealed systemic abuse and unsafe conditions and as a result they were put under Federal oversight for for 6 years an LA Times investigation in 2010 found at least 11 probation officers had been convicted of crimes or disciplined for inappropriate conduct with the youth in their care including having sex with children in detention Halls beatings and molestation investigative reporter Richard Winton broke the story I named some people it took him 13 to 15 months to get rid of those people named in the LA times as committing multiple acts of sexual assault on multiple different females there's been an unwillingness it seems to get rid of some people I mean they've known that there's been problems with people and yet they stay on the payroll time and time again federal and state investigations found abuse across the Department's detention centers there have been numerous occasions when outside bodies and oversight agencies have basically questioned how this place has run and they've had numerous management changes and yet they seem to be still stuck in the same patent the youth unprotected if we have folks in the room who'd like to make public comment the probation oversight commission was created in 2020 to reform and monitor the department in crisis the deep deep toxicity within the department sh Jackson is a commissioner she knows firsthand just how crucial these facilities are for young people who end up in the system when I'm in there doing my inspections it is me that I see because she was locked up in it herself all they're trying to do is make it and they're surrounded by all the wrong people and they get no fair chances and they get no forgiveness the people in charge just didn't give a damn about the children that they were responsible for protecting the law firm Manley Steward in finaldi was the first to bring a lawsuit against LA County after California opened a three-year look back window for anyone reporting sexual abuse and the floodgates opened so many women have told us their stories of coming to Camp with the hopes of Rehabilitation being groomed and that turning into sexual abuse rape manipulation control do you think that some of those accused probation officers are still working today absolutely absolutely we've learned that recently the county has placed about 20 of them on leave the county has known about this problem for over three decades the lawsuits are now in Discovery but the county has estimated that it could cost up to $3 billion to settle cases with the thousands who say they were abused that is staggering it's an enormous amount of money and this is taxpayer dollars this is record-breaking guo Vieira Rosa is the new chief of probation a former probation officer himself he served in Corrections for almost 30 years he was sworn in if a few months ago the Department's six leader in the last 12 years this is a revolving jaw of leadership there's no other way of putting it LA County probation made it clear they would not comment on ongoing litigation but the chief did agree to sit down for an interview which the department then cancelled twice the second time after our crew arrived citing the chief had Co then in a statement to ABC news today the Los Angeles County Probation Department said the vast majority of the lawsuits against the county predate the current probation and County leadership noting they have quote repeatedly asked plaintiffs attorneys for the names of alleged defendants as we want to ensure no alleged Defenders have contact with youth in our care and vowing we take all allegations of sexual misconduct seriously investigate each one and that such misconduct is absolutely deplorable and we want to do our best to ensure that nothing like this happens they also added that eight people connected with these cases have left the probation department with two cases referred to the district attorney yet the very day the department canceled our interview for the second time the LA Times reported yet another probation officer was accused of having sex with an incarcerated minor and was arrested Madam chair the motion carries in February the BCC a state oversight board voted that the remaining juvenile facilities in LA are unsuitable for the kid kids and staff there I don't see a way forward for LA County they ordered them to close within 60 days unless probation could make numerous changes to make them safe we just got a report that there were two more overdoses in the facility the same issue is just persisting if you still see the same problem and all you guys are talking about is needing more time we've run out of time soon after the lawsuits were filed the man ryell and Aila accused Thomas Jackson retired after 33 years with the Department Days Later Dominique's alleged abuser Ernest Walker retired too we have depositions that are coming up for both of them well they'll have to answer up to what they did but they were both able to retire and as of now collect a pension we reached out to Walker and Jackson's attorney who declined to comment on their behalf and in court filings LA County Jackson and Walker have denied all the allegations when you hear that Walker was able to serve out his 33 years resigned just this past year right the fact that he was able to retire a decorated person within the juvenile probation system as he prayed on me it's it's just ridiculous it's sad but it shows how broken the system is this building once house kids waiting for court they do a lot of good things here for the Youth it's now a youth and Community Gathering space but when Aila was 15 she was locked inside this now abandoned holding cell that's where you wash your hands and drink water Aila now works for advocates for peace and urban Unity trying to help kids from her neighborhood become successful here we do gang intervention and we just added sexual abuse as well if you need some shoes you need some clothes I want my organization to be able to provide that for you you don't have to go out and do things or take this even though you don't want to I I could remember him on top of me and I'm literally crying and he's upset because I'm crying cuz that's messing with him getting off and I don't want nobody else to experience that what does Justice look like for you this this is justice so many girls came before us and is swept under the rug yall shedding lights on [Music] it a daughter of La ryell Hartley always loved the Santa Monica Pier but she's moved far away from the pain she now Associates with LA I would love an apology from Los Angeles County probation department I would like for them to admit that they failed us Dominique went on to study here at California State University Dominguez Hills she can only imagine how much better life could have been had she not been robbed of her childhood I wish in them knowing that they're dealing with children who come from these trauma based backgrounds that someone would have pulled me to the side and said young lady you don't have to do that you're a queen you're worth more than that Dominique [Music] Anderson now a mother of five she's studying for her Masters in marriage and family therapy it's so crazy how trauma works because the people who inflict trauma they're not worried that they prayed on you or they abused you and they're not thinking about me they've went on with their lives I'm still trying to fix myself and still blaming myself for what I went through so it takes strength to be able to sit here and do this but someone's got to do it [Music]

Channel: ABC News

Views: 47,082

Keywords: abc, abcnl, abuse, adults, broken, children, danger, facilities, guards, justice, juveniles, news, of, officers, officials, oversight, p_cmsid=2494279, p_vid=news-109328558, prime, probation, sexual, system, the, want, who, years

Id: hD8DfdDhwgk

Length: 17min 46sec (1066 seconds)

Published: Wed Apr 17 2024