Torrance

A teen-aged baby sitter and two friends have pleaded not guilty to charges of molesting six children at a motel-apartment complex.

Police Sgt. Wally Murker said 11 counts of child molestation have been filed against Timothy Ricketts, 19, of Lomita, and seven charges each against Robert Winkler, 35, and Angela Darnell, 22, both of Torrance. Each is being held in lieu of $50,000 bail.

Murker said the families of the alleged victims have been relocated from their apartments on Pacific Coast Highway east of Crenshaw Boulevard to temporary housing elsewhere in Torrance. He said police “got some people who own apartments in Torrance to volunteer facilities for the use” of the two families, and the Torrance Police Officers Assn. donated funds to help in the relocation.

Police said Ricketts formerly lived at the apartments and was a baby sitter for children whose parents lived there. They said Winkler and Darnell were friends of Ricketts and that the alleged assaults took place at the motel-apartment complex at various times last year.