Mother Seized Under Gang Law Cleared

Criminal charges were dismissed Friday against a South Los Angeles mother who drew national attention when she was accused under a new state law of failing her parental duties by allowing her teen-age son to participate in a street gang.

The Los Angeles city attorney’s office said that a follow-up inquiry revealed that Gloria Williams--who prosecutors earlier had claimed was “actively involved in her son’s gang”--in fact had successfully completed a program in parenting at an alternative school.

“In light of that information,” said City Atty. James K. Hahn, “which was not known to us at the time the criminal case was filed, we feel it would not be in keeping with the spirit of the law to prosecute a parent who has taken steps to attempt to control her child.”

At the prosecution’s request, the misdemeanor charges were formally dismissed by Los Angeles Municipal Court Commissioner Robert Sandoval.

“I don’t believe it!” the 37-year-old Williams said, bursting into tears after a reporter told her via telephone that the case against her was dropped. “Oh! Oh! Thank God! I figured it would come out, but when?”

Prosecutors said Williams could have avoided being charged by telling police that she had attended the 10 three-hour parenting classes, a fact that undermined their allegation that she was an unconcerned parent.

Weekly Classes

The classes were taught once a week at the Community Youth Sports and Arts Foundation in the Crenshaw district.

“She never mentioned it,” said Deputy City Atty. Debra Gonzales, who conducted the inquiry that eventually led to the dismissal of charges. The prosecutor said even Williams’ defense attorney had not disclosed the classes.

Gonzales said prosecutors first learned of them when Chilton Alphonse, director of the school, heard news reports about the arrest and came to the city attorney and said Williams’ son had gone to school there.

“I spoke with him (Alphonse), counselors and with the parenting class teacher,” Gonzales said, “and they were able to provide me with the information that she had attended and had completed the classes and had been given a certificate.”

‘Moving So Fast’

Asked why she failed to mention the classes to police, Williams told The Times: “I didn’t say anything to them because I know how they can be.”

In an earlier interview, she had said that she thought police questioned her only to glean information about her son, who had been accused of participating in a rape.

“Everything was moving so fast,” she said. “There were questions I wanted to ask them.”

The unraveling of the prosecution’s case provided a dramatic climax to an investigation that had provoked considerable debate on the issue of parental neglect.

It began last April 27, when Williams’ 15-year-old son was arrested in connection with the gang rape of a 12-year-old girl, who allegedly was kidnaped from Williams’ back yard and assaulted by at least a dozen gang members over a three-day period.

Graffiti, Photos

Two days later, Williams herself was taken into custody by Los Angeles police, who said they found the son’s bedroom covered with gang graffiti. Detectives also said they found two photo albums showing Williams posing with members of what police said was a Crips street gang, attired in blue sweat shirts, flashing their gang signs. Other photos, they said, showed Williams’ youngest son pointing a pistol at the camera and her daughter wearing a semiautomatic pistol in her belt.

Williams later said that the photos from family albums did not prove she condoned gang activity. She said the photos simply depicted a party and the weapon was a BB gun. She has not admitted that her oldest son is even in a gang.

The woman was the first parent charged under a provision of the 1988 Street Terrorism Enforcement and Prevention Act. Drafted by Hahn and Dist. Atty. Ira Reiner, the sweeping legislation is designed to treat street gang activity like organized crime.

Under the law’s provisions regarding parental responsibility, parents can be punished if they knowingly fail to control or supervise their children.

The boy, who remains in custody at Eastlake Juvenile Detention Center, faces felony charges of participating in a gang rape. Prosecutor Gonzales, who is assigned to the city attorney’s gang unit, said Williams’ son had been attending the alternative school but had been kicked out.

Then the son was arrested for auto theft and asked to be placed back in the school last fall, Gonzales said. It was at that time that the mother enrolled in the parenting classes, which focused on parents’ roles within a family, controlling stress and anger, and teaching parents how to communicate with their children.

“It showed to us that she was at least, thank goodness, making that turn to start to make an effort to get assistance and learn how to handle her children,” Gonzales said.

Since her arrest, Williams had been free on her own recognizance.