Dozens say they were sexually abused by officers in juvenile detention – San Diego Union-Tribune

They were as young as 11 when they say they were sexually abused by San Diego County probation officers.

The county is facing lawsuits by at least two dozen people who say they were sexually assaulted as children and teens by probation officers while confined in the county’s juvenile detention facilities, which are meant to be temporary holding places for youths suspected of committing crimes pending court hearings, or places of rehabilitation for youths serving time.

Their lawsuits echo similar stories: Many were ordered to meet officers in bathrooms or showers where they say they were assaulted, or they were assaulted in their own cells at bedtime. If they didn’t accept the sexual abuse, or if they reported it, the officers threatened to extend their confinement time, beat them or kill them. For some, the abuse came almost daily, or lasted years.

When the plaintiffs did report the alleged abuse, they say their complaints were ignored.

In their lawsuits, the attorneys representing many of them blame “a systemic failure to protect vulnerable minors in our juvenile detention system from egregious sexual misconduct and abuse by the same predator officers and county officials who (swore) an oath to serve and protect.”

The litigation is part of a national wave of lawsuits from thousands of plaintiffs alleging sexual assault by probation officers in juvenile detention.

In California, more sexual assault lawsuits were made possible by a 2019 state law that expanded the statute of limitations to give victims of childhood sexual assault more time to sue over it. They can now file civil suits until they are 40 years old, or within five years of when they discovered or “reasonably should have discovered” that psychological harm during adulthood had been caused by the sexual assault.

The San Diego Union-Tribune obtained via a public records request the legal claims filed against the county’s probation department since 2019. The vast majority of those claims alleged sexual assault by probation officers.

The lawsuits against San Diego County allege sexual abuse by probation officers as early as 1970 and as recently as 2022. Most of the plaintiffs said they were assaulted during the 1990s, 2000s and 2010s, reflecting the 2019 law’s age restriction.

Most of the plaintiffs allege they were abused while at the former Kearny Mesa Juvenile Detention Facility, which has since been replaced by a new facility called Youth Transition Campus. The lawsuits also allege abuse at Rancho Del Campo Juvenile Ranch and Camp Barrett, both of which are also now closed, as well as East Mesa Juvenile Detention Facility and Girls Rehabilitation Facility, both still open.

The lawsuits accuse the San Diego County Probation Department of failing to adequately screen its officers before hiring them, failing to intervene and prevent the abuse, failing to properly investigate complaints of abuse and failing to discipline and fire any officers who committed abuse.

“It was swept under the rug,” one plaintiff, whom the Union-Tribune is not identifying, said in an interview. “The girls started questioning whether anyone really cared about the things that we have to share or say, and it just kind of became part of the culture — ‘This is allowed here.’”

In an email, the department said it “is committed to the care and safety of youth in our care. The Probation Department has a zero-tolerance policy regarding sexual assault, sexual abuse, and sexual harassment between residents, staff, volunteers, contractors, and visitors within all probation facilities.”

The agency told the Union-Tribune in an email that it takes all sexual misconduct allegations seriously and that they are investigated by its ombudsman or internal affairs unit, then referred to law enforcement when appropriate.

It said all sworn and non-sworn probation staff, contracted staff and volunteers must complete a background check and training in line with the federal Prison Rape Elimination Act. The department also said it tells detainees how they can report sexual assault and provides weekly education on the federal law.

The department added it does not comment on pending litigation.

One plaintiff said she was sexually assaulted when she was 16 by a probation officer at the Kearny Mesa facility, and it has had ripple effects on the rest of her life into adulthood.

The trauma from the assault fueled her postpartum depression, stress that contributed to a later miscarriage and post-traumatic stress disorder, and it ruined her ability to maintain relationships and trust others, she said.

“I can’t continue to live my life and give him the opportunity to ruin the most beautiful things in my life, which he has,” she said of the officer in an interview. “Now I’ve come to understand, I’ve wrapped my entire life around this memory and what happened to me.”

She hopes that speaking out will encourage other victims to come forward.

“I hope that it brings enlightenment to what did happen, and a voice for the kids that weren’t able to have a voice, and also a change in the way that these people are working with these youth in the system,” she said.

The abuse happened repeatedly for some youths, and by multiple officers, the lawsuits allege.

At least four male plaintiffs said they were forced to undergo “inspections” where officers made them strip naked, before the officers fondled their genitals or ordered them to perform sex acts.

The Prison Rape Elimination Act, which became federal law in 2003, bars facilities from letting opposite-gender officers conduct strip-search inspections, but many male plaintiffs said they were abused by male officers during such inspections.

One plaintiff said he was 12 when a male officer blindfolded and zip-tied him on a milk crate, then put his penis in the boy’s mouth. The boy later told his mother that the officer “had been mean to him,” but officers assured they could be trusted.

Another plaintiff said he was 13 years old when a male officer lured him into an empty unit by promising to show him movies. While the movie was playing, the officer molested him, then raped him. The officer did this several times to the boy, the lawsuit alleges.

That plaintiff also said he was regularly given psychiatric medication that made him sleepy, then officers molested him while he was drugged. The abuse continued for years, he says.

A different plaintiff said she was 11 years old when a male officer ordered her to perform oral sex on him in a stairwell; later, he came to her cell when she was asleep and raped her. She says he also raped her in a stairwell, and that she was also assaulted by an another officer who forced her to perform oral sex.

Another plaintiff said that when she was 15, a male officer fondled her breasts and vagina in the trash area, then ordered her to the bathroom where he raped her. Afterward, she says, he threatened that she would never be released if she didn’t have sex with him again, so she met him in the bathroom once more, where he raped her again.

And another plaintiff said she reported an officer’s sexual abuse to a supervisor, but the supervisor did not offer her counseling or seriously discipline the officer. The officer was simply removed temporarily from her unit, then returned to her unit weeks later, where he continued to harass her and other girls.

Youth advocates argue that the inherent structure of the juvenile detention system provides an environment conducive to officer abuse.

For one thing, juvenile detention centers are correctional facilities that are closed environments with limited external oversight and limited ways for youths to contact others outside the facility, said Jason Szanyi, a juvenile justice consultant and former director of the Children’s Center for Law and Policy.

Youths are imprisoned in a facility where they have to follow orders, and are told they can trust adult officers. “The power dynamics and positions of authority are huge, and those can be exploited,” Szanyi said.

And youth detainees are especially vulnerable because of their age. They may not be able to identify abuse, whether because of their young age or prior histories of abuse, Szanyi said.

Because the victims are young, adults may be less likely to believe them over the word of sworn officers, and they may assume that youths are less likely to report abuse, attorneys said.

“Minors are ideal victims due to age and vulnerability, giving officers prime targets to sexually exploit under the guise that when they complain it would fall on ‘deaf ears,’” attorneys with ACTS Law, which is representing 17 plaintiffs, wrote in their lawsuits.

Most of the San Diego County plaintiffs in the lawsuits served to the county are represented by attorney Dena Weiss of ACTS Law, which is also representing hundreds who say they were sexually abused while in juvenile detention by Los Angeles County probation officers.

Weiss’ cases, which were filed in 2023 and 2024, are currently in discovery, and she is working on obtaining probation records about all kinds of aspects of the juvenile detention facilities, from staffing levels to misconduct complaints and investigations regarding probation officers.

But the county said it would not produce many of the records. It said in its court-filed responses that many of the records have already been destroyed.

The probation department’s policies say it destroys all of its facility documents, statistics and other records after five years.

Originally Published: February 16, 2025 at 5:00 AM PST