Molestation Allegations Close a Home for Teen-Agers

Police shut down a Tustin group home for problem teen-agers after three girls told police that they had been sexually molested there, authorities said Wednesday.

The girls called police Monday night and said they had been molested by a man at Laurel House, Tustin Police Lt. Walt Wedemeyer said.

Wedemeyer said police temporarily closed the home on Fairmont Way as a matter of routine while they investigate. He said no one has been arrested or charged.

A man who is engaged to be married to the mother of one of the girls said he encouraged his fiancee’s daughter and the two other girls to call police after she told him that she had been solicited for sex and that the others said they had been sexually involved with a man at the house. He said the girls range in age from 15 to 17.

Name of Man Accused Withheld

The man said his fiancee’s daughter “had become uncomfortable. . . . She became disturbed and upset and found other girls there were disturbed and upset. The girls began talking to each other Monday afternoon and realized they were all being subjected to his advances. They came here (to his fiancee’s home), and they were crying and hysterical.”

The man said he called the parents of the other girls and encouraged the teen-agers to notify police.

Police would not identify the man accused by the girls.

John Grant, a licensing program supervisor for the state Department of Social Services, said the home was granted a three-year license in February, 1986, to care for up to six youths 13 to 17 years old. He said no health and safety violations have been reported.

Children are placed in the home by their parents or by other social agencies, he said.

“It is licensed as a group home, a facility that has a structured environment in which children who have problems are placed on a time-limited basis,” Grant said.

“These children essentially have problems. The goal of the facility is to change their behavior so the child can function in a less structured environment.”

At Laurel House Thursday, Major Barnes said he and his wife, Reeta, operate the home, but he refused to comment on allegations beyond noting that the house shelters problem teen-agers.

“This is a Christian-run home,” Barnes said. “It still is and always will be.”

At least five teen-agers, including two boys, were living in the home, according to the stepfather-to-be, who added that they were either returned to their parents or placed in other group homes.

The man said he and his fiancee placed the daughter in the Laurel House last month at the recommendation of a vice principal at her high school, after the girl began having behavioral problems at home and at school. A second girl had lived at the home for four months, he said, and the third had moved out last year but often returned on weekends.

He also said he had been told that the home was sponsored by the Trinity United Presbyterian Church in Santa Ana.

The Rev. George Munzing, pastor at Trinity, said his church is not involved in the operation of the home but donates about $10,000 a year to it. Also, some members of the congregation serve independently on its board of directors.

“From an official standpoint, we support it like we support dozens of other missions and social types of ministries,” Munzing said.

“This organization began with the concern of a group of people. Obviously, some I know very well. But it is organized with a separate board of directors and is state licensed.”