Ex-Janitor Sentenced for Molesting 2 Girls

A former Glendale elementary school janitor charged with molesting two third-graders was sentenced in Glendale Municipal Court this week to 36 months probation.

Under terms of the probation, Ralph M. Camden, 66, is prohibited from being near children out of the presence of another adult or guardian. He is also required to undergo psychiatric counseling, Deputy Dist. Atty. Jeanne Behling said.

Camden pleaded no contest in February to two counts of engaging in lewd and lascivious conduct with a minor. He was arrested Feb. 2, hours after the two girls reported that he fondled them during lunch period in his office at Thomas Jefferson School, officials said.

Commissioner Joseph F. De Vanon also on Tuesday sentenced Camden to 12 days in County Jail, the amount of time the Los Angeles resident served before he was released on $3,500 bail Feb. 16.

Police who searched Camden’s apartment after his arrest found it filled with hundreds of pornographic publications and pictures of teen-age sexual exploitation, incest, child molestation, rape and bondage, a police report said.