ORANGE : Molestation Suit Finally Goes to Trial

After five years of legal maneuvering, a Mission Viejo couple got their day in court Tuesday, alleging that their deaf, mute, retarded son was taken from a locked psychiatric ward at UCI Medical Center and molested by a UCI psychiatric worker.

The couple, Frank and Maria Nin, contend in their civil suit that the alleged molestation by former UCI psychiatric technician, Thomas Paul Meano, not only caused lasting emotional trauma to their son--who was 16 at the time of the incident--but to their whole family. They are seeking unspecified damages.

They add that Meano allegedly took the child from the hospital against their wishes--and doctor’s orders.

But a team of attorneys for University of California Regents, Meano and Dr. John H. Massimino, the UCI psychiatrist who treated the boy, vehemently rejected the charges. “We basically deny the whole allegation,” attorney John E. West, who represents Dr. Massimino, said in brief comments about the case outside court.

In opening comments before a Superior Court jury Tuesday, West said that Massimino “became concerned” when, on March 6, 1985, technician Meano took the teen-ager off the locked psychiatric ward sometime between noon and 1:30 p.m. and did not bring him back until 10:30 that night. West described Meano’s decision to take the youth off the locked ward as “poor judgment.”

When the pair returned, Massimino immediately called two pediatricians to examine the youth, West said, and “they found no evidence that he had been molested.” Other medical center “investigating personnel” also found no evidence the youth had been molested, he said.

West added that Massimino communicated with the youth in sign language and “felt that he had been traumatized that day.” But West added that Massimino “also will testify that the boy is traumatized every day because he is deaf. That’s unfortunately the case.”

Also, West said, when the boy spoke about what he and Meano did, “Dr. Massimino was never told (he) was molested”--only “something about pants and toilet.”

That account conflicted with the scenario described by Marvin Weiss, attorney for the Nins.

According to Weiss, as soon as the boy was returned to the hospital, “he ran over to (Maria Nin) signing and crying that he was afraid, that he ‘hurt, hurt.’ He pointed to his genital area and said ‘hurt.’ ”

Meano did not speak with a reporter Tuesday. According to officials from the state board that licenses psychiatric technicians, his record was clear until this June when a complaint was referred to the state attorney general’s office. Angie Martin, an enforcement coordinator for the California Board of Vocational Nurses and Psychiatric Technicians, declined to describe the accusation.

According to state officials and employers, Meano got his psychiatric technician’s license on Aug. 16, 1978. He worked as a psychiatric technician at UCI Medical Center from March 3, 1984, to July 3, 1989. He now works in a similar job at Fairview Developmental Center, the state hospital for the developmentally disabled, in Costa Mesa.