Denying funds to apparent victims of sexual abuse at the hands of public employees, monies already allocated by a generous government body in compensation, could at first glance seem like a gross miscarriage of justice.
But in the case of the $4 billion allocated by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, much of which published reports show will go to non-victims set up by rapacious lawyers in a scam to steal from the county, we need to take more than a first glance.
We need to hit pause while the claims are finally looked at deeply rather than just being declared valid. That’s why Nathan Hochman’s District Attorney’s Office is asking a judge to delay for at least six months any payments from the settlement over allegations of childhood sexual abuse at probation camps and other facilities. Hochman is even saying that a vast majority of the damages claim may be fraudulent.
We support the delay, and the going through of the claims with a fine-toothed comb. Last year, old-fashioned gumshoe reporting by the Los Angeles Times showed some impoverished people who got settlements were paid by vendors to sue the county, and in at least two cases, fabricate claims so they could become plaintiffs. Since then, it’s been clear there are many more people who were approached by lawyers at county welfare offices and told to sign paperwork in exchange for future money. The Times story said the plaintiffs in question were represented by Downtown LA Law Group, or DTLA, which had more than 2,700 cases involved in the abuse settlement. (The firm denies wrongdoing.)
In its 34-page motion filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, the District Attorney’s Office says a preliminary criminal probe into fraudulent allegations makes investigators believe that up to 81% of the damage claims may be bogus.
This is not to discount the plain fact that there was apparently sexual abuse of vulnerable young people in county custody. Any case of sexual abuse, especially under the color of law-enforcement authority, is horrific. But it is also plainly obvious that the county and the Board of Supervisors failed to protect local taxpayers from frivolous claims.
Let the investigation proceed swiftly and thoroughly.