Runaway Shelter’s Director Charged With Molestation

The director of a Tustin shelter for runaway and abandoned teen-agers was charged Monday with sexually molesting three girls at the facility, police said.

Tustin police issued an arrest warrant for Major Barnes II, 41, after the Orange County district attorney’s office filed six counts of child molestation--including three felony charges--against him, Tustin Police Lt. Walt Wedemeyer said.

Barnes’ attorney, Byron K. McMillan, said his client would surrender at an arraignment scheduled for 9 a.m. Wednesday in Central Municipal Court in Santa Ana. McMillan said he had not seen a copy of the complaint and refused further comment. Barnes could not be reached for comment Monday.

Barnes, who with his wife supervises the shelter, was charged with oral copulation, penetration with a foreign object and sexual battery, in addition to three misdemeanor charges of disorderly conduct with a minor, Wedemeyer said. His wife was not charged, Wedemeyer said.

Authorities began their investigation March 14 after three girls, ages 15 to 17, called police and reported they had been sexually assaulted while staying at the Laurel House, in the 13600 block of Fairmont Way, Wedemeyer said.

Police shut down the home the next day and removed the six teen-agers who were staying in the coeducational facility, officials said. The teens were either placed in another group home or released to their parents.

Jack Kaylor, a supervisor in the state Department of Social Services, said that his office conducted a joint investigation with the police and that a report will be turned in to the legal department. He said he did not know whether the group home, which is licensed to care for up to six teen-agers at a time, will reopen.

During the three-week investigation, police interviewed about 37 former residents of the Laurel House before turning over their 500-page report to the district attorney’s office last week, Wedemeyer said.

Wedemeyer declined to provide details of the investigation but said at least three girls were molested between May, 1987, and March 14 of this year.

“We’re not sure whether additional charges will be filed later,” Wedemeyer said. We found a number of violations. It’s up to the district attorney.”

John Grant, a licensing program supervisor for the Social Services Department, said Laurel House was granted a three-year license in February, 1986, to care for up to six youths ranging from 13 to 17 years of age. Children are placed in the facility by their parents or by other social agencies, he said.

A man who is engaged to the mother of one of the girls told The Times that he had encouraged his fiancee’s daughter to call police after she told him that she had been solicited for sex by Barnes. The man, who asked not to be identified, said he also met with the parents of two of the other girls who said they had been sexually involved with Barnes and encouraged them to go to police. All three girls went together to the authorities.

Several parents said they placed their children in the home, believing that it 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.