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Associated Press
06-08-2025
- Associated Press
Attorneys seek federal probe of Los Angeles County sexual abuse allegations
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Attorneys representing over 200 women said Tuesday they want the federal government to investigate allegations of rampant sexual abuse that occurred over decades at juvenile bootcamps run by the Los Angeles County probation department. The request comes months after Los Angeles County officials agreed to a $4 billion payout to settle 7,000 claims of sexual abuse in juvenile facilities since 1959, the largest sex abuse settlement in U.S. history. Attorneys whose clients were not a part of the deal said in a letter Monday to U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli that the settlement was not enough because there has been no information about who it happened or who was responsible. They are asking the Department of Justice to open a probe. A spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney's office declined to comment. The attorneys' clients were between the ages of 12 and 17 when they were sent to camps designated for 'at-risk youth' who had committed minor offenses, separate from the juvenile halls. Some parents were charged tuition for attendance, the attorneys said. John Manly, one of the attorneys, said during a news conference Tuesday that the camps were akin to the island owned by Jeffrey Epstein where he allegedly brought underage girls to be exploited. He said the most notorious was Camp Joseph Scott, located in Santa Clarita. It housed an all-girls population with a capacity of 125 residents and was shuttered during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the city of Santa Clarita. '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 attorneys said. His colleague, Courtney Thom, said one former deputy probation officer, Thomas Jackson, had been accused by at least 30 women of sexual assault during their time in the custody of the probation department. A civil lawsuit involving these allegations against Jackson is scheduled to go to trial in August. 'When our client was released back to her grandmother, this deputy probation officer went out to her home and would take her from her home to areas within the community to continue sexually abusing her and continued to contact her and torment her throughout her adult life as well,' Thom said. Jackson's attorney, Tom Yu, said his client is 'innocent of the allegations brought by those who received billions of dollars in taxpayers' money. As usual, the county abandoned their defense and blamed the employees.' Jackson's case was referred by the county to prosecutors for investigation in December 2023 but they declined to prosecute because the alleged incidents happened too long ago, according to an April 7 memo, the Los Angeles Times reported. Jackson resigned in 2023 after working for the county for decades and is now collecting a pension, according to Thom. 'Not one of those current or former LA County Probation Department officers has been prosecuted, not one has been arrested,' Thom said. 'Without a full investigation about what happened ... how can anyone assure this won't happen again?' The county's Office of County Counsel said in a statement that it is working with authorities to hold those who committed abuse accountable, but records are no longer available in many of the cases. 'The childhood sexual abuse claims in question span many decades,' the statement said. 'In addition, plaintiffs' attorneys have not produced evidence enabling the County to identify perpetrators in the vast majority of claims.' Nonetheless, the statement 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 plaintiffs in the $4 billion settlement were able to sue because of a California law that took effect in 2020 and suspended the statute of limitations for childhood sex abuse victims to bring cases for three years. Manly and Thom have represented plaintiffs in several high-profile sexual abuse cases, including gymnasts in their lawsuit against USA Gymnastics and Michigan State University sports doctor Larry Nassar, who was accused by more than 300 women and girls of sexual assault and is serving three prison sentences that will likely keep him locked up for life. The letter also called for an investigation of whether the county concealed allegations of ongoing abuse at the juvenile facilities when the Justice Department investigated the facilities in 2006 and established a federal monitor in 2008. It found that the county had completed all of its required reforms by 2014.
Yahoo
06-08-2025
- Yahoo
Attorneys seek federal probe of Los Angeles County sexual abuse allegations
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Attorneys representing over 200 women said Tuesday they want the federal government to investigate allegations of rampant sexual abuse that occurred over decades at juvenile bootcamps run by the Los Angeles County probation department. The request comes months after Los Angeles County officials agreed to a $4 billion payout to settle 7,000 claims of sexual abuse in juvenile facilities since 1959, the largest sex abuse settlement in U.S. history. Attorneys whose clients were not a part of the deal said in a letter Monday to U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli that the settlement was not enough because there has been no information about who it happened or who was responsible. They are asking the Department of Justice to open a probe. A spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney's office declined to comment. The attorneys' clients were between the ages of 12 and 17 when they were sent to camps designated for 'at-risk youth' who had committed minor offenses, separate from the juvenile halls. Some parents were charged tuition for attendance, the attorneys said. John Manly, one of the attorneys, said during a news conference Tuesday that the camps were akin to the island owned by Jeffrey Epstein where he allegedly brought underage girls to be exploited. He said the most notorious was Camp Joseph Scott, located in Santa Clarita. It housed an all-girls population with a capacity of 125 residents and was shuttered during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the city of Santa Clarita. '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 attorneys said. His colleague, Courtney Thom, said one former deputy probation officer, Thomas Jackson, had been accused by at least 30 women of sexual assault during their time in the custody of the probation department. A civil lawsuit involving these allegations against Jackson is scheduled to go to trial in August. "When our client was released back to her grandmother, this deputy probation officer went out to her home and would take her from her home to areas within the community to continue sexually abusing her and continued to contact her and torment her throughout her adult life as well,' Thom said. Jackson's attorney, Tom Yu, said his client is 'innocent of the allegations brought by those who received billions of dollars in taxpayers' money. As usual, the county abandoned their defense and blamed the employees.' Jackson's case was referred by the county to prosecutors for investigation in December 2023 but they declined to prosecute because the alleged incidents happened too long ago, according to an April 7 memo, the Los Angeles Times reported. Jackson resigned in 2023 after working for the county for decades and is now collecting a pension, according to Thom. 'Not one of those current or former LA County Probation Department officers has been prosecuted, not one has been arrested,' Thom said. 'Without a full investigation about what happened ... how can anyone assure this won't happen again?' The county's Office of County Counsel said in a statement that it is working with authorities to hold those who committed abuse accountable, but records are no longer available in many of the cases. 'The childhood sexual abuse claims in question span many decades,' the statement said. 'In addition, plaintiffs' attorneys have not produced evidence enabling the County to identify perpetrators in the vast majority of claims." Nonetheless, the statement 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 plaintiffs in the $4 billion settlement were able to sue because of a California law that took effect in 2020 and suspended the statute of limitations for childhood sex abuse victims to bring cases for three years. Manly and Thom have represented plaintiffs in several high-profile sexual abuse cases, including gymnasts in their lawsuit against USA Gymnastics and Michigan State University sports doctor Larry Nassar, who was accused by more than 300 women and girls of sexual assault and is serving three prison sentences that will likely keep him locked up for life. The letter also called for an investigation of whether the county concealed allegations of ongoing abuse at the juvenile facilities when the Justice Department investigated the facilities in 2006 and established a federal monitor in 2008. It found that the county had completed all of its required reforms by 2014.
Yahoo
05-08-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
'Essentially Epstein Island': Law firm calls for federal probe into L.A. County sex abuse
A prominent law firm suing L.A. County over childhood sexual abuse is pushing for a federal investigation into how so many children were harmed on the government's watch. The county agreed in April to a $4 billion settlement to resolve roughly 7,000 cases of sexual abuse inside the county's juvenile detention facilities and foster homes dating back decades. But attorney John Manly, who has about 200 cases against the county, said despite the eye-popping sum, there's still no clear picture of who is responsible for the rampant abuse. No one has been criminally charged since the deluge of cases began. 'This is essentially Epstein Island being supervised by Los Angeles County probation officers,' said Manly, referring to Jeffrey Epstein, the notorious financier who died by suicide while awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges. 'It's shocking, and there's no outrage, none, zero. It's like, 'Oh yeah, okay, we'll just take $4 billion of public money and we'll settle, and then it'll be gone.' No, we want answers.' Read more: California school district faces sex abuse lawsuit. Did L.A.'s $4-billion payout open floodgates? Manly served as lead counsel for victims abused by USA Gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar and former USC gynecologist George Tyndall. His firm, Manly, Stewart & Finaldi, is one of several firms that are not part of the L.A. County settlement. The first trial for his cases is set to begin this month. In a letter addressed to U.S. Atty. Bill Essayli, Manly wrote that he wanted to see the U.S. Attorney's Office conduct an 'immediate investigation' into any federal crimes committed by staff within the L.A. County Probation Department, which is responsible for overseeing the juvenile facilities where much of the alleged abuse took place. '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 Aug. 4 letter stated. '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.' Read more: A.G. Rob Bonta seeks takeover of scandal-plagued L.A. County juvenile halls The U.S. Attorney's Office declined to comment. The deluge of litigation against the county is rooted in a change in state law, known as AB 218, which gave victims of childhood sexual abuse a new window to sue their abuser. Since then, the county, along with many school districts, have been flooded with lawsuits, some dating back to the 1950s. A county spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The county has said in the past they've taken many steps to try to prevent abuse in recent years, including strengthening the vetting of foster parents and probation staffers and winding down the use of group homes, where some of the alleged abuse took place. Read more: Faced with paying hundreds of sex abuse claims, LAUSD authorizes up to $500 million in bonds County officials have said it has been nearly impossible to defend themselves against these cases because many of the records were discarded long ago. Prosecuting those cases has been similarly difficult, as many victims, who were children at the time of the abuse, never knew the first names of their abusers. The perpetrators are usually identified in the lawsuits as some variation on John Doe, with few identifying details. Since the flood of lawsuits began, county officials referred only two of the cases to the District Attorney's Office for investigation: Altovise Abner, a probation supervisor who was investigated for having sex with a minor at a camp in 2006, and Thomas Jackson, a former probation official who was accused by more than two dozen women of sexually abusing them when they were minors. Jackson resigned in 2023 after three decades with the county. The cases against both were outside the statute of limitations, according to a memo by the DA's office explaining the decision not to prosecute. Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Los Angeles Times
05-08-2025
- Los Angeles Times
'Essentially Epstein Island:' law firm calls for federal probe into L.A. County sex abuse
A prominent law firm suing L.A. County over childhood sexual abuse is pushing for a federal investigation into how so many children were harmed on the government's watch. The county agreed in April to a $4 billion settlement to resolve roughly 7,000 cases of sexual abuse inside the county's juvenile detention facilities and foster homes dating back decades. But attorney John Manly, who has about 200 cases against the county, said despite the eye-popping sum, there's still no clear picture of who is responsible for the rampant abuse. No one has been criminally charged since the deluge of cases began. 'This is essentially Epstein Island being supervised by Los Angeles County probation officers,' said Manly, referring to Jeffrey Epstein, the notorious financier who died by suicide while awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges. 'It's shocking, and there's no outrage, none, zero. It's like, 'Oh yeah, okay, we'll just take $4 billion of public money and we'll settle, and then it'll be gone.' No, we want answers.' Manly served as lead counsel for victims abused by USA Gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar and former USC gynecologist George Tyndall. His firm, Manly, Stewart & Finaldi, is one of several firms that are not part of the L.A. County settlement. The first trial for his cases is set to begin this month. In a letter addressed to U.S. Atty. Bill Essayli, Manly wrote that he wanted to see the U.S. Attorney's Office conduct an 'immediate investigation' into any federal crimes committed by staff within the L.A. County Probation Department, which is responsible for overseeing the juvenile facilities where much of the alleged abuse took place. '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 Aug. 4 letter stated. '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.' The U.S. Attorney's Office declined to comment. The deluge of litigation against the county is rooted in a change in state law, known as AB 218, which gave victims of childhood sexual abuse a new window to sue their abuser. Since then, the county, along with many school districts, have been flooded with lawsuits, some dating back to the 1950s. A county spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The county has said in the past they've taken many steps to try to prevent abuse in recent years, including strengthening the vetting of foster parents and probation staffers and winding down the use of group homes, where some of the alleged abuse took place. County officials have said it has been nearly impossible to defend themselves against these cases because many of the records were discarded long ago. Prosecuting those cases has been similarly difficult, as many victims, who were children at the time of the abuse, never knew the first names of their abusers. The perpetrators are usually identified in the lawsuits as some variation on John Doe, with few identifying details. Since the flood of lawsuits began, county officials referred only two of the cases to the District Attorney's Office for investigation: Altovise Abner, a probation supervisor who was investigated for having sex with a minor at a camp in 2006, and Thomas Jackson, a former probation official who was accused by more than two dozen women of sexually abusing them when they were minors. Jackson resigned in 2023 after three decades with the county. The cases against both were outside the statute of limitations, according to a memo by the DA's office explaining the decision not to prosecute.
Fox News
12-06-2025
- Politics
- Fox News
Larry Nassar victims' lead attorney criticizes USA Gymnastics trans athlete policy handling
The Larry Nassar sexual abuse scandal became a sudden talking point amid the backlash against Simone Biles for defending trans athletes in women's sports. Some critics, including Biles' target in her social media rant Riley Gaines, pointed to the abuse perpetrated by Nassar while criticizing Biles' stance on trans athletes. Then on Wednesday, a USA Gymnastics spokesperson told Fox News Digital that the organization's transgender eligibility policy and resources pages were deleted from its website in May, to "assess compliance with the current legal landscape." The lead attorney for the U.S. women's gymnasts who were affected by Nassar, John Manly, weighed in on the comparisons between the Nassar abuse and biological male inclusion in women's sports. "Larry Nassar was sexually assaulting children, that's fundamentally different," Manly told Fox News Digital. However, Manly believes that the leadership at USA Gymnastics and its method of deciding to allow trans athletes in the women's category is the same type of leadership method that allowed the Nassar scandal to occur. "I think that's precisely right," Manly said. "[Female gymnasts] are in that position with that trans athlete in the locker room because of the organizations that create policies. … In that same token, Larry Nassar was created and allowed to flourish because they didn't have policies preventing precisely what he was doing. He was treating little girls in their hotels rooms alone on their beds, during the Olympics, there's no policy against it." Manly added, "Athletes are not first in this sytem, they're not. Money and medals are, and the people who run it are first." President Donald Trump signed his "Keeping Men Out of Women's Sports" executive order in February, but the order only applies to institutions that receive federal funding, while USA Gymnastics and the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC) are private entities. As a lawyer, Manly questioned the validity of the organization's recent excuse of "compliance with the current legal landscape" for deleting the policy pages. "That's a bunch of nonsense," Manly said. "That's corporate speak for 'we're concerned that the political winds have shifted and people are taking a dim view of the policy' and they don't want to become Bud Light. "The reason Larry Nassar happened, one, is because they didn't put athletes first, and two, because they slithered around and tried to cover it up, and [it's] the same thing here. Make a decision, stand out and defend it." Still, unlike Nassar, Manly believes that blame does not always fall on the trans athletes themselves, especially those who are underage. Manly, who has known Biles for several years, believes the gymnast was trying to make a similar point in her recent controversial social media rant, but it was "misunderstood." "I think it's a misunderstanding. I think what I suspect what Simone was trying to say is 'we shouldn't blame children, child athletes, for competing when these organizations allow it. But I haven't spoken to her about it… I respect Riley Gaines and obviously I respect and love Simone, and I wish it hadn't happen, but I can't speak to that," Manly said. In December 2021, Manly helped Biles and fellow U.S. women's gymnasts Aly Raisman, McKayla Maroney and Maggie Nichol secure a $380 million settlement from USA Gymnastics and USOPC over the Nassar abuse. Since then, the attorney has followed the issue's impact on the legal landscape, with an eye on Gaines' lawsuit against the NCAA for the inclusion of biological male Lia "Will" Thomas in the 2022 NCAA women's swimming championship. "I think it's really important," Manly said of Gaines' lawsuit's impact on women's sports history. "How that plays out is going to determine whether women's sports is going to continue as we know it or if it's going to change… the fact that the NCAA hasn't just owned up to it and come to a settlement with her is shocking to me." Manly says he would consider filing his own lawsuit against the USOPC if any American Olympians came to him with a legitimate case. "I'd file them to protect women, to protect female athletes, but I shouldn't have to file those cases, what should happen is the USOPC should step in and say 'were going to protect our athletes and we're going to have clarity," he said. While Manly hopes that the policies will be clear and allow fair competition in time for the Los Angeles Olympics, he says he has "no confidence," the policies will be at that point in summer 2028 if the current USOPC leadership remains in power. "I don't have any hope for anything with this board," he said. Follow Fox News Digital's sports coverage on X, and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter.
