O.C. Asked to Charge Couple With Sex Abuse

GARDEN GROVE — After more than two years of investigation, police have asked the district attorney to file criminal charges against the former operators of a foster home who lost their state license this week amid charges that they sexually abused five teen-age girls.

Garden Grove Detective Jamie Joyce, a sex crimes and child abuse investigator, said Wednesday that a decision is pending on whether to prosecute James and Carol Fox in what has turned out to be a difficult criminal investigation that once came to a halt in 1991 because of a lack of evidence.

Joyce said the case, now before the district attorney’s office, alleges numerous sex crimes, stemming from a state and county investigation that ended Tuesday with the revocation of the couple’s foster-care license. Joyce declined to elaborate further.

“It is a very sensitive matter,” the detective said.

In the state license proceeding, the couple faced charges of operating an illegal foster-care facility in the 13000 block of Greentree Avenue and numerous allegations of sexual abuse and exploitation. They included taking and exhibiting nude and pornographic photographs of foster children, encouraging foster children to become prostitutes, and allowing their son to have sexual relations with one of the girls under their care.

Members of the Fox family have declined to talk about the situation, except to say the allegations are false. In the legal action that stripped them of their foster-care license, the couple admitted no wrongdoing.

However, according to a search warrant affidavit filed by police in Orange County Municipal Court in Westminster, the Foxes have blamed their problems on a troubled foster child who they say has lied to authorities about them. They say their intentions as foster parents are to help runaway children and persuade them to surrender themselves to county authorities.

On Wednesday, it was unclear when the district attorney will decide whether to file charges. The prosecutor assigned to the matter, Laurie Hungerford, could not be reached for comment.

The case against James F. and Carol L. Fox began in mid-1991 when a 15-year-old girl under their care complained to the Orange County Social Services Agency, which had placed her in the Foxes’ home. The agency started its own investigation and contacted Garden Grove police, which began a separate inquiry into potential criminal wrongdoing.

According to the search warrant affidavit obtained by The Times, police suspended their investigation in June, 1991, after receiving conflicting statements from two girls who had lived at the Fox residence.

One claimed that James Fox, 53, had tried to recruit her for pornographic movies, asked her to fill out a questionnaire inquiring about sexual practices she would be willing to engage in, and had touched her buttocks. The other told police during an interview at the Foxes’ home that she saw no inappropriate behavior, nude photos or pornographic movies while in the family’s care.

In addition, James Fox told investigators that his main accuser was a “mixed-up kid” who had sent him a letter stating that her allegations to the County Social Services Agency were a lie.

Unable to develop enough evidence or witnesses to support a request for a search of the Fox residence, police decided to halt their investigation, search warrant records state.

Police, however, resumed the case in February, 1992, when a county social worker, Nancy Davis, discovered another alleged victim and referred her to detectives.

According to the search warrant, the girl told authorities that she saw nude photos at the Fox home as well as computer sex games and pornographic films of two other Fox wards. She was paid $60 to appear in a sexually suggestive video, the girl said, but did not perform any sex acts.

The search warrant states that James Fox also showed the teen-ager a “treasure chest” filled with various sexual devices and marital aids that he and his wife kept in the master bedroom.

As the investigation continued, police said they found still another teen-age girl who claimed she had been the victim of sexual abuse by family members. She told police that she was fondled by James Fox and was asked to perform in “underground porno movies.”

According to court records, Joyce searched the Fox residence at Greentree Avenue and an apartment in the 11000 block of Banner Drive in August, 1992. His inventory, filed in Municipal Court, shows that he found nude photos of young females, pornographic movies, sexual devices, adult videos, duffel bags stuffed with videotapes, computer disks, a video recorder, and 36 boxes filled with adult magazines.

Meanwhile, the County Social Services Agency continued its investigation and referred the case to the state Department of Social Services, which licenses and monitors foster-care homes.

According to the state’s case, James Fox allegedly abused five female minors who were under his care since December, 1990. Attorneys for the Department of Social Services say he showed most of them sexually explicit films and then asked them to pose nude to be photographed for his own pornographic movies.

In addition, case records show that he provided alcoholic beverages to some of the children and watched one of them take showers through a bathroom window. James Fox allegedly solicited one of the young girls to have sex with him, and fondled two of his wards.

The state further charged that the Foxes illegally operated their home without a license for awhile and provided care for five children when, in fact, they were only licensed to care for one child.

“We thought this case was worthy of revocation and referred it to the state for prosecution,” said Gene Howard, director of children’s services for the Orange County Social Services Agency.

Licensed Care

Less than half of 1% of foster homes statewide have had their licenses revoked. The number of licensed homes as of December, 1992:

Licensed Foster homes children Orange County 582 1,064 California 14,043 33,342

Source: California Department of Social Services