Dear Mr. Essayli,
Today I write you as an attorney on behalf of 200 plus victims of child sexual abuse at the hands of Los Angeles County. My firm, Manly Stewart and Finaldi, currently represents hundreds of women who were placed into the custody of the Los Angeles County Department of Probation from the late 1980’s until 2020 into what the County referred to as juvenile “boot camps.” Among the most notorious was Camp Joseph Scott. Hundreds of young girls between the ages of 12 and 17 were sent to these camps either by familial consent or by order of the juvenile court. The stated purpose of the camps was to assist at-risk youth who in some way had acted inappropriately or committed minor offenses. These camps were separate from juvenile halls where serious youth violators were sent.
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. The sexual abuse at these camps by officers was pervasive, organized, and, worst of all, often ignored by rank-and-file officers, site managers and upper management, the Probation Officers Union, and the County Board of Supervisors. Thousands of former camp and juvenile hall residents have come forward since 2022 and allege they were sexually assaulted while under the care and custody of the Los Angeles County Department of Probation. Many of these victims’ parents were actually charged tuition by the County only to have their children raped by the adults in charge. It’s worth noting that virtually all the victims are from minority communities in Los Angeles.
This sexual misconduct was well known and reported in the media frequently over the 30 years this was occurring. In fact, beginning in 2006, the US Department of Justice entered into a consent decree establishing a monitor to deal with these issues. This process was an abject failure as the abuse continued unabated despite DOJ finding that LA County had complied with its obligations as of 2012. Clearly DOJ was misled. What’s more, there were those at the County who concealed the abuse and, in our view, knowingly engaged in a criminal conspiracy. Similar issues occurred at youth camps operated by the State of California. Indeed, statewide there are thousands of victims with most being in the Central District of California.
Several months ago, Los Angeles County announced it was entering into a $4 billion settlement with numerous law firms to resolve their civil cases. This did not resolve our firm’s cases as our clients have received little or no information on how this happened, who is responsible, and, most importantly, zero accountability for the individuals at the County who caused untold suffering, denied their basic human rights, and literally allowed monsters to savage their little bodies and psyches.
The situation remains dire. Just last week California Attorney General Bonta appointed a receiver to oversee the juvenile system because of the ongoing issues with abuse, misconduct, and corruption. The LA County Board of Supervisors has handled, deliberated, and settled this entire matter under the protection of the Attorney Client privilege and only discussed the issue in Executive Session where there is no public record.
The $4 billion LA County abuse settlement is the largest Child Sex Abuse settlement in US history. No one has been indicted. No official has been called before any criminal court, nor before any legislative body. Neither the Los Angeles County District Attorney, nor the Los Angeles City Attorney, nor the California Attorney General has appointed a special prosecutor or any independent panel to investigate this sexual holocaust. In fact, the supposedly “progressive and liberal” Los Angeles City Attorney office and the County of Los Angeles Board of Supervisors have been using this settlement and pending cases to lobby the legislature to eliminate the ability of victims of the County’s child rapists to seek access to civil justice against them and those who knowingly enabled them to molest children. Indeed, their hypocrisy knows no bounds. On behalf of our clients, we request that your office undertake an immediate investigation of this entire matter and take the following steps:
- Determine whether federal crimes have been committed during the course of LA County’s conduct here.
- Investigate the individual abuse for violating the Civil Rights of the victims.
- Investigate the Department of Probation and those in charge at that agency during the relevant time periods for violating the civil rights of the victims.
- Investigate the County Board of Supervisors knowledge and the County’s Potential misuse use of Federal funds associated with the Probation Program.
- Investigate the monitoring by DOJ to determine whether the County concealed the ongoing abuse at these facilities.
- In the event your office is unable to commit the necessary personnel to this task, request the Attorney General appoint a special prosecutor to investigate this matter.
There are thousands of alleged victims here. Indeed, the number of victims in these cases dwarfs the Archdiocese of Los Angeles Cases and indeed all the Roman Catholic Priest abuse cases throughout the largest Archdiocese in the United States. Many of those, including various California Diocese, have been rightfully subject to exhaustive criminal and civil investigations by various law enforcement agencies including states attorneys general and district attorneys. Here none of that has happened. There has been zero interest in such an investigation here despite the victims being overwhelming from minority communities that those in charge in Los Angeles County routinely and publicly espouse to protect. The lack of interest in prosecution of those literally engaged in a massive human trafficking operation where thousands of vulnerable children were savaged sexually reeks of politics, corruption and a malignant indifference to the children. I am humbly asking you to help our clients get justice.
Thank you for considering their request.
Very truly yours,
JOHN C. MANLY, ESQ.
MANLY, STEWART & FINALDI
