Rape of Boy at Court Site Reported

Los Angeles County authorities are investigating allegations that a group of juvenile inmates repeatedly sexually assaulted a 12-year-old inmate in a holding room at the Compton courthouse while Probation Department guards were supposed to be watching the boys.

“Definitely, we are very concerned,” said Anita Vigil, a spokeswoman for the county Probation Department, whose care of young inmates has been under scrutiny amid persistent violence at juvenile facilities and the escape early Thursday of four gang members from a San Fernando Valley juvenile detention facility.

Vigil said she could not discuss details of the investigation, as did a spokesman for the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, which also is probing the March 15 incident.

But sources familiar with the investigation said authorities were trying to determine why the probation guards did not intervene as two older boys held down the victim while two others reportedly raped him.

Juveniles who are transported to the Compton courthouse from the juvenile halls for court appearances are held in a secure area in the building. Unlike adult inmates at the courthouse, who are guarded by sheriff’s deputies, the juveniles placed in holding rooms are overseen by Probation Department guards, who are supposed to keep watch through a glass window from an adjoining area.

Investigators are looking into whether guards had obscured the window so the juveniles could not watch them, according to a department source, who asked not to be identified for fear of retaliation.

The Probation Department, which has custody of about 4,000 teenage inmates, also is investigating Thursday’s escapes and struggling to hire more officers to reduce violence at its facilities.

Probation officials caught one escapee Friday afternoon, but the remaining three were still at large Friday evening, authorities said. Five months ago the county’s adult jail system came under renewed scrutiny after an inmate was beaten to death by others at the Men’s Central Jail while guards left them unattended.