Gangs Leave Graffiti in Courthouse Offices

When prosecutors arrived for work this week at the San Fernando Courthouse, where many violent gang members are brought to trial, they were startled to discover gang slogans and nicknames scrawled over the walls of the supposedly secure offices.

The discovery Tuesday alarmed prosecuting attorneys and caused San Fernando Superior Court Judge John H. Majors to order all the outside locks changed.

Majors also barred the courthouse maintenance crew from the building and notified Los Angeles County officials that he wants the company’s contract terminated. He concluded the only way an outsider could have entered the locked offices is with the help of maintenance workers.

“No one had access to these offices with the exception of the cleaning people,” Majors said.

Superior Court Judge David M. Schacter added: “It makes a mockery out of the whole idea of a security system if, after hours, anybody can come in here and do anything they want.”

Gang slogans about the size of a hand were scrawled in black marking pen on walls, in the women’s restroom and on a blackboard where the status of trials is listed. More markings were left on numerous pieces of paper inside the private office of a supervising attorney who assigns trials to other deputies.

The discovery prompted fears by judges and prosecutors that others could enter the courthouse after hours and plant bombs or hide guns for criminal defendants.

“It was an eerie feeling to walk in in the morning and see that,” said Percy Ruffner, a legal assistant. “They were dropping little hints that they are here. It’s scary to realize that you are not safe here.”

Deputy Dist. Atty. Edward Nison, who prosecutes gang members and has 15 gang-related murder cases pending, at first said he feared someone might have tampered with his case files and identified witnesses. But the files turned out to be secure inside a locked cabinet.

Maintenance workers are the only people with unrestricted access to all the offices in the building, including prosecutors’ offices and judges’ chambers, Majors said.

The judge said he believes some workers might have given copies of the keys to friends who are gang members, and he said he will find a new company to provide courthouse maintenance. He could not immediately fire the company, however, because it holds an extended contract with the county. But he said he had begun the process of replacing the firm.

James Lee, owner of American Oriental Maintenance, whose workers have cleaned the San Fernando Courthouse for about three years, denied that any of his employees are gang members but conceded that they may have allowed friends into the building while they were working.

He said his company will try to retain its contract to clean the courthouse and added that the same workers have cleaned the building for several years without problems.

Lee also contends that prosecutors have overreacted to what may have been nothing more than a prank.

Nison, however, said the incident raises questions about how carefully private companies screen employees that have unrestricted access to the courthouse.

“That’s the most frightening thing,” he said. “They should realize they have to hire people who aren’t going to compromise the security of the courthouse.”