Van Nuys Youth Volunteer Held on Child Abuse Counts

A 53-year-old Van Nuys man who authorities said used his position as a youth volunteer to molest young boys was ordered held to answer Friday in Van Nuys Municipal Court on 10 charges of child abuse.

At a weeklong preliminary hearing that ended Friday, six boys ages 10 to 12 said that Landreth Harrison repeatedly molested or sodomized them at his mobile home or on outings.

They testified that they met him though friends or through two organizations for which Harrison volunteered--the Boy Scouts, and the Boys & Girls Club of the San Fernando Valley in Pacoima.

Police arrested Harrison April 19 after a pizza delivery man reported seeing two naked boys inside his mobile home.

“He was known as Landy to the boys, who seemed to relish the trips” to Disneyland and to campgrounds, said Deputy Dist. Atty. Richard Walmark.

The boys testified that Harrison, a cashier at a Northridge hardware store, provided them with tents and other camping gear.

At the time of his arrest, several of Harrison’s neighbors told reporters that young boys visited Harrison almost every weekend for the last two years.

Although he upheld 10 charges against Harrison, Judge Gregg Marcus dismissed two counts of abuse involving a 7-year-old boy.

Marcus said he was not convinced that the boy was mature enough “to be a credible witness.”

Harrison, who remains in jail in lieu of $210,000 bail, is scheduled to be arraigned in Van Nuys Superior Court July 26.

He is charged with eight counts of performing a lewd act with a child, one count of sodomy and one count of possessing child pornography.

The child pornography count is based on several videotapes that police found at Harrison’s home.

Prosecutor Walmark said that the tapes, which were viewed by Marcus in his chambers, show Harrison in the company of several nude boys.

The boys on the video are not the same ones who testified against Harrison, Walmark said.

Police are still trying to identify the other boys, he said.