3 Arrests Dampen Success of Summer Anti-Gang Project : Jobs: But 37 of the 40 teen-agers complete the Ventura employment program. The others face murder charges.

The idea was to give gang members jobs for the summer so they could see a world beyond their neighborhood rivalries.

But last week when Ventura city officials honored graduates of the program, two were in jail and a third in Juvenile Hall, facing charges of murder.

“I never, never could have expected that to happen,” said Roberta Payan, who runs the program. “I knew it was going to be bumpy. I figured at the most I would get someone out of Juvenile Hall.”

But 37 of the 40 original Ventura teen-agers did complete the Youth Employability Enhancement Program with success, Payan said.

For 10 weeks, gang members and youths at risk of joining gangs mainly worked as janitors, clerical assistants and recreation leaders. For most of them, it was their first job and an opportunity to learn from role models at Ventura City Hall, Ventura College and other government agencies and nonprofit organizations where they were placed, Payan said.

“Getting these jobs is a Band-Aid effect,” Payan said. “I’m not a miracle worker. My best hope was that the kids have an opportunity to see something else. I’m not going to solve a kid’s problem by giving him a job.”

The star of the program was 18-year-old Benjamin Huerta, who worked as an engineering aide in the city’s Public Works Department, Payan said.

Of all the participants, Huerta seemed to be undergoing the most drastic change, Payan said. Huerta is a gang member and had just been released from probation when he started his job, Payan said.

“He was really changing fast,” said Robert Yalda, Huerta’s supervisor. “He worked really hard, and even came in to learn on his own time.”

But Huerta is being held on $250,000 bail at Santa Barbara County Jail. He was arrested Aug. 5 in the fatal stabbing of a 16-year-old youth during a gang street fight in Santa Barbara, police said.

The slaying occurred during the opening of Santa Barbara’s annual Old Spanish Days celebration when members of the Ventura Avenue Gangsters ran into a rival Santa Barbara gang, police said.

In addition to Huerta, police arrested Greg Dominguez, 19, Ricardo Cervantes, 20, and two youths ages 15 and 16. According to police, the five are reputed members of the Ventura Avenue Gangsters. Dominguez and the 15-year-old youth were also in the summer program and doing well in their jobs, according to their supervisors.

Shannon Harp, athletic equipment manager at Ventura College, said Dominguez showed up for his job interview in gang uniform, wearing a Raiders cap.

“He didn’t deny that he was in a gang,” Harp said. “He was very quiet, a good worker, and he did have a calming effect on the younger ones.”

Authorities say they suspect Dominguez was wielding the knife that killed Robert Joseph Mitchum during the fight.

“The program is extremely idealistic,” Harp said. “They’re being paid minimum wage four hours a day. I think the best we can do is show them what kind of jobs are out there for them, if in fact, they are going to get jobs. They can make a lot more money other ways.”

The 15-year-old suspect, however, “loved his job,” said his father. “He was always talking about how fun it was.”

The youth was a recreation leader at the Boys & Girls Club on Olive Street in Ventura and in charge of coordinating games for children, said Jane Goldschmidt, executive director.

“He did a real good job,” Goldschmidt said. “He worked well with the kids. We were very, very surprised to hear the news.”

The youth is being held at Juvenile Hall in Santa Barbara, authorities said.

Santa Barbara Deputy Dist. Atty. Ron Zonen said the 15-year-old will be prosecuted as a juvenile, and Huerta and Dominguez will be tried as adults. Zonen said none of the suspects have entered pleas yet.

Payan said despite the three arrests, she thinks there is a good chance the program will be funded again next summer. This was the first year of the $66,000 program, and it was jointly funded by the city and a federal government grant, she said.

“I don’t see this as a pimple or anything,” Payan said. “I think all it does is point out that we need more support services than a job. . . . They get caught up in this lifestyle and there’s no way out.”

Monique Gutierrez, 17, said her summer job gave her self-confidence and a feeling of independence. Gutierrez’s mother, Lorraine Sanchez, said although her daughter has never joined a gang, she is at risk because of the neighborhood they live in.

Gutierrez worked as a clerical assistant for the Ventura County Special Olympics this summer, and primarily answered telephone calls and handled paperwork, she said.

“This was my first real job,” Gutierrez said. “Now I have my first bank account, and my own bank card. I would have probably been baby-sitting at home this summer.”

Cpl. John Leach, who works in the Ventura police gang unit, said, “All summer it was pretty quiet on the Avenue, and we figured it had to do with the program.”

Sgt. Carl Handy, who heads the gang unit, said he considered the program a success because most of the teen-agers completed it.

“Two or three will fall through the cracks,” Handy said. “When you give kids a job, you don’t expect them to change, you give them an opportunity to change. And change doesn’t happen overnight.”

* SANTA BARBARA REACTS TO CRIMES: A3