Boys’ Club Closed; Director Investigated

The director of the Eastside Boys’ Club was under investigation for child endangering Thursday, after he allegedly evicted 60 youngsters from the East Los Angeles recreation and day-care center, authorities said.

However, late Thursday evening after interviewing director Leo Hernandez, as well as parents and club employees, Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Deputy Roxanna Schuchman said detectives believe that no criminal violations occurred.

She said the child-care center apparently was already closed and locked when children were dropped off by their unsuspecting parents and that staff members had remained with the children.

Civil action--involving possible child endangering or licensing violations--against Hernandez is still possible, authorities said.

Parents’ Demand

Hernandez allegedly had locked the children--some as young as 2 years old--out of the building, after firing his staff amid allegations of financial mismanagement and a demand by parents that he be ousted.

The center reportedly had lost its United Way funding when it failed to account for its expenditures and is said to be bankrupt.

Parents arriving to pick up their youngsters at the club at 324 McDonnell Ave. Thursday afternoon found a deserted building with hand-lettered signs in Spanish and English telling them to go to the nearby East Los Angeles Sheriff’s Station.

Deputy Dave Tellez said the Sheriff’s Department received a call about 11:30 a.m. that dozens of children were on the street, unsupervised and without access to food, water or toilets.

Upon arrival, deputies forced entry into the center, seized records and began notifying parents.

Brown Bag Lunches

Thirty-four children were taken to the sheriff’s station, where late Thursday about 20 remained, happily munching brown bag lunches of milk, fruit,cookies and bologna sandwiches provided by deputies and watching a “Star Wars” video while they waited for relatives to arrive.

Most seemed to enjoy the adventure, and no children were reported missing. However, some parents and relatives were outraged.

“This is a lot of trauma for her,” Dr. Anita Cangas said of her 8-year-old granddaughter, Carmen. “She went into this agency to have a good time, to swim for a couple of hours.”

Cangas said she understood that the club had financial problems and had failed to make required financial reports for the past five years.

John Camacho, the father of two children, 9 and 11, said 1,100 people had signed a petition last week demanding Hernandez’s resignation because of “mismanagement of funds.”

“The Boys’ Club has deteriorated . . . the lack of program is due to United Way’s backing off, because of the mismanagement.”

United Way officials could not be reached for comment.

Quizzed at Station

Hernandez came to the sheriff’s station voluntarily Thursday afternoon. He was questioned for several hours by investigators and was not available for comment after the session. He was scheduled to meet privately with the Boys’ Club board Thursday evening.