War of the Charities : 2 Organizations That Help Young Runaways Trade Charges of Threats, Slander and Violence in Lawsuits

Two nonprofit organizations dedicated to helping teen-age runaways are accusing each other of uncharitable behavior in a bizarre feud that includes allegations of threats, beatings and dirty tricks.

The feud pits Van Nuys-based Children of the Night and its renowned executive director, Lois Lee, the subject of a “60 Minutes” profile and a television movie, against a one-man teen rescue organization in West Hills called Thursday’s Child.

In this David and Goliath battle of the charities, Lee says Thursday’s Child has mounted a campaign of lies designed to ruin her reputation. Don Austen, director of Thursday’s Child, says Lee is trying to destroy him because she is territorial and loath to share the spotlight with others helping teen-agers in distress.

Both organizations have filed suit against each other in Los Angeles County Superior Court, asking for damages for such things as slander, battery and conspiracy.

The conflict has spread outside the social services community. Four sheriff’s deputies have been disciplined for their involvement in a 1989 incident in which Austen says he was beaten up after being lured by Lee to a Marina del Rey restaurant.

The Los Angeles County district attorney’s office declined to file charges in connection with the incident, but investigators raised questions about the behavior of the off-duty deputies and about Lee’s version of what happened. She said she helped lure Austen to the restaurant late on the evening of Nov. 8, 1989, in order to take his photograph, but the investigators said Lee’s plan seemed “far too elaborate” for that purpose.

The district attorney’s investigators did not say what they thought was really going on that night. But, in his suit filed last November, Austen said he believed that Lee and the deputies conspired to entrap him “for the purpose of giving them an excuse to assault, batter and arrest” him.

Whatever happens next, the dispute could be harmful to both organizations. “A public dispute of this kind can damage the credibility of all similarly situated agencies,” said Robert Burns, general manager of the Los Angeles Social Services Department. “That is regrettable and avoidable if both sides act in good faith.”

Lee founded her organization in Hollywood in 1979 and estimates that she has helped thousands of child prostitutes since then. She was the recipient in 1984 of the President’s Volunteer Action Award and has rubbed elbows with entertainment celebrities at well-attended fund-raisers.

Efforts to raise money to purchase a shelter were helped along by a 1985 TV movie titled “Children of the Night” and a 1987 profile of the organization on “60 Minutes.”

In 1988, her organization purchased for $899,000 the historic Van Nuys post office building to set up a shelter that will house 24 youths when it opens in late September. The organization’s headquarters is now in Van Nuys.

Austen, 31, a slender man with an interest in antiques who is negotiating to purchase a mannequin company, said he founded his organization in the early 1980s, after volunteering for a shelter that aids teen-agers with problems. The name of his organization is taken from the aphorism, “Thursday’s child has far to go,” and some say the same is true of the organization itself, which operates out of Austen’s house.

“To our knowledge, his organization has no board of directors, no funding, no staff and no agencies who refer to them,” said Anthony Glassman, Lee’s attorney.

Austen admitted that he has no staff, but supplied the names of several board members. June L. Arden, an attorney, confirmed her membership on the board. Austen said that over the years he has helped 1,500 runaways and their families and readily displays thank-you letters from families he has helped.

Problems between Children of the Night and Thursday’s Child date back to 1982, according to Austen and Glassman.

Austen said he was told during a meeting with representatives of Children of the Night that he should disband his organization to avoid competing for donations. He refused and relations deteriorated, he said, until he heard rumors that Lee was denouncing him as a “child molester.”

Asked about that, he replied, “not even in a former life.”

He believes that Lee has helped tarnish his reputation in the community, in part, he said, because she doesn’t want to share the fame she has gained as a defender of street children.

“What I found to have occurred is a whispering campaign” orchestrated by Lee, Austen said.

Austen said that as a result, Pacific Bell removed his organization from the phone book listing of community organizations, and he has been made to feel unwelcome at gatherings of other charitable organizations.

Lee was on vacation in the Sierra Nevada and unavailable for comment, but friends deny ever hearing her call Austen a child molester. Lee’s version of past events differs in other ways from Austen’s.

“Austen has harassed and verbally threatened Dr. Lee, has attempted to extort money from Children of the Night and, in addition, has accused the organization and its executive director of having committed serious crimes,” according to the lawsuit filed by Lee on June 14.

Burns said Austen has regularly complained about Lee’s organization over the years. “Don Austen does not like Lois Lee and is more than happy to criticize Lois Lee on any occasion he can find,” he said.

Burns, who investigates charities suspected of corruption, said he has had no problems with Children of the Night.

But in 1987, Burns did warn Austen that it is not proper to bill his full rent and utility bills to Thursday’s Child, even though he was operating the organization out of his home.

The dispute between the two charitable organizations might never have surfaced if Lee had ignored Austen, said one knowledgeable observer. Thursday’s Child was little more than a fly on the back of an elephant.

But the events of Nov. 8, 1989, changed the equation.

Glassman refused to comment on those events, saying he preferred to let the facts unfold in court. But a deposition from Lee taken by the district attorney’s office shows that she had been growing more concerned about her safety and that of her family as the dispute with Austen dragged on.

In the deposition, labeled confidential and obtained from a source who asked not to be identified, Lee said that her housekeeper received a call on Sept. 21, 1989, from an unidentified man who threatened to kidnap Lee’s child.

As a result, she said she purchased a security system for her home. She told the district attorney’s investigators that she decided to get a picture of Austen so that she could give it to her housekeeper, her security company, her neighbors and her child-care agency.

As part of the plan, an associate of Lee’s, Children of the Night board member Robert Christie, called Austen’s hot line and said he was a businessman who had a runaway girl with him whom he wanted to turn over to Austen. During this call, Lee pretended to be the runaway, she said.

The staged meeting took place the night of Nov. 8 at the El Torito in Marina del Rey. On hand for the meeting were the “businessman” and a young woman who posed as the runaway. Waiting nearby were Lee, a private investigator hired to take the picture and several off-duty sheriff’s deputies--Sgt. Gilbert Parra, Deputy Eric Parra and Lt. William Salveson--along with Salveson’s wife.

Before it was over, Austen and a deputy had an altercation and Austen was under arrest.

There are differing versions of what happened, but both sides agree that after a brief meeting, the “runaway” ran out of the restaurant with Austen and two female associates in pursuit. The woman posing as the runaway jumped into a car containing Lee and Salveson’s wife, who tried to drive out of the parking lot. Saying he feared the runaway was being kidnaped, Austen blocked the exit and told the parking lot attendant to call the police.

As the incident escalated, someone waved a gun, Austen said. Austen said he was tackled by Eric Parra. The car containing Lee and the others drove away and Austen was placed under arrest on suspicion of assault by Marina del Rey station deputies called to the scene.

Lee later said she did not see a gun and Eric Parra maintains that he was attacked by Austen.

After looking into the events, the district attorney’s office declined to file charges against Austen.

The investigators did question the behavior that night of the off-duty deputies. For one thing, one of the deputies radioed for assistance in stopping Austen and falsely described him as a homicide suspect.

“The evidence suggests an intent to unlawfully detain Mr. Austen,” states the district attorney’s report, dated Nov. 6, 1990.

“It is also clear that Sgt. Gil Parra and off-duty Lt. William Salveson misrepresented the legitimacy of their investigation of Donald Austen to the Marina del Rey station deputies. And, we note the plan as described by Lois Lee appears far too elaborate for its express purpose of obtaining photographs.”

The district attorney’s office did not file charges against any of the deputies, but the Sheriff’s Department’s Internal Affairs Bureau also investigated after Austen complained that unnecessary force was used on him.

That charge was found to be unsubstantiated.

“The investigation did, however, establish that Deputy Eric Parra, Sgt. Gilbert Parra, Lt. William Salveson and Sgt. Timothy Richards were in violation of several Sheriff’s Department Policies and Procedures,” Capt. Jerry Conklin wrote in a July 1 letter to Austen.

“Appropriate administrative action has been taken,” Conklin added. He refused to elaborate, but Eric Parra said he and the others have been ordered to take time off as punishment. Parra said the deputies are appealing the penalty.

Salveson and Richards refused to comment. Efforts to reach Gilbert Parra were unsuccessful.

The long-simmering dispute could flare into public view now in what promises to be a messy trial. But neither side appears ready to compromise. Austen said he is sick of being blackballed in the social services community.

For her part, Lee, according to a friend, “is tired of being a victim.”