http://www.contracostatimes.com/california/ci_14522046?nclick_check=1
RANCHO CUCAMONGA - The superintendent of Stark Youth Correctional
Facility in Chino received at least eight complaints of .ual abuse of
wards by a correctional counselor for which no punishment was doled out.
Xavier Ruiz defended his actions on Tuesday and Wednesday during a civil
trial brought on by four wards who alleged that Ruiz was deliberately
indifferent to repeated complaints that youth correctional counselor
James Shelby was engaging in inappropriate .ual contacts with the
wards.
"Did you have any doubt regarding whether or not Mr. Shelby did, in
fact, engage in any .ual misconduct?" asked Gary Dordick, attorney for
one of the wards, Guillermo Ruelas.
"No," Ruiz said. "I had no doubt."
Five counts of misconduct
In 1999, shortly after Ruiz' arrival to Stark, Shelby was charged with
five counts of misconduct, including dishonesty, providing false
information, immoral .ual behavior with two wards and allowing wards
access to confidential files.
Ruiz testified that he recommended that Shelby be fired after reviewing
the investigative report created by Dan Westlund, internal affairs
investigator, dated May 24, 1999.
Ruiz said he agreed on the findings of three allegations - two counts of
dishonesty in providing false information and one count of inexcusable
absence without leave.
A fourth charge alleged that Shelby orally copulated ward Edward Rivera
and .ually propositioned ward Ricardo Tovar. Ruiz said he did not
agree with that portion of Westlund's report.
"Without looking at anything, in terms of the 38 exhibits, not
interviewing a single witness, without doing anything, you decided, on
your own, that Investigator Westlund's conclusions regarding the .ual
conduct were incorrect?" Dordick asked.
"Correct," Ruiz answered. "But there's more to it than that. Rivera
denied the allegation."
When asked if "prison culture" may have been the reason why Rivera would
not have admitted to engaging with Shelby, Ruiz said yes, but he did not
remember if he took that into account.
Regarding Tovar's claim, Ruiz also testified he did not see any evidence
that would indicate the ward was lying except Shelby's denial it
happened.
Letter of reprimand
According to the Office of Inspector General's report, on Sept. 21,
1999, instead of being fired, Shelby received a letter of reprimand.
After a review, the California Youth Authority's legal office eliminated
the two sustained charges pertaining to immoral .ual behavior and
allowing wards access to confidential files of other wards. The
investigation could not determine the precise date of Shelby's .ual
act on Rivera.
"The department didn't sustain the allegation," Ruiz said.
"So then they send Mr. Shelby back to work with wards in the same job
capacity he had previously been doing, correct?"
"Yes," Ruiz said.
Another claim of misconduct
Two weeks went by before another claim of .ual misconduct by Shelby
was filed - ward Jason Perez claimed heaulted Shelby on Oct. 5,
1999, after the correctional counselor touched him in a .ual manner.
Perez was transferred to Chaderjian Youth Correctional Facility in
Stockton where he got in touch with OIG staff and complained that staff
at Stark took "no follow up action" about his claims of .ualault.
OIG reviewed Perez' claims as well as the earlier dismissal of Shelby's
sustained allegation of .ual misconduct. Their Oct. 3, 2000 report
stated that "it would be reasonable for legal office to request
additional investigative effort" to pinpoint the date of the alleged
oral copulation on Rivera but found no "evidence that such effort was
made."
OIG also found that legal office did not take ward Tovar's allegations
into consideration or his willingness to undergo a polygraph
examination.
Ruiz said he did not recall ever getting the OIG report.
"Rarely do I get anything with regards to reports or investigations from
the Office of the Inspector General. They go directly to the director,"
he said.
Retribution on the football field
Two weeks after Perez incident, on Oct. 24, 1999, ward Daniel
Guerrero-Valles wasaulted on a football field by another ward, Paul
Pina, who broke his jaw.
In a letter to Ruiz, Guerrero-Valles claimed Shelby set up the attack
after he informed the correctional counselor that he had heard rumors
that Shelby was performing .ual favors for wards, and asked to be
transferred out of his caseload.
"I told him that if it's true that I didn't care, but that I wanted a
new worker or caseload because I didn't like what wards saying about
him," read the ward's letter. "I also told him that if I wasn't
(assigned) new case worker, that I was to speak to (a supervisor) could
deal with this issue."
Ruiz testified that he put in a request for an internal affairs
investigation, but did not include the ward's allegations of Shelby's
.ual misconduct with other wards.
"The main reason the ward was writing a letter was because his broken
jaw," Ruiz explained. "He then added some other things about what he
heard or thought he heard with regards to Shelby and .ual whatever."
Guerrero-Valles' claims were not sustained.
OIG report recommendations
A OIG report recommended reopening Perez and Guerrero-Valles cases as
well as revising "department procedures to ensure complaints of staff
misconduct are promptly and throughly investigated."
"Do you recall implementing the recommendations of the Office of the
Inspector General?" Dordick asked.
"No," Ruiz said. "These recommendations are for the director, which is
statewide, institution-wide."
Ruiz also said the investigation into Perez' allegation was never done
because he didn't file a written grievance.
Nine months later, on July 29, 2000, ward Armando Tanori did file a
grievance alleging .ual misconduct by Shelby.
"I'm writing this grievance on YCC Shelby who's been harassing and
.ually harassing me on more than one occasion," Ruiz read what Tanori
wrote in his grievance. "And it's got to the point where I don't feel
comfortable by being violated by this staff. I would like to speak to
someone on this matter as soon as possible."
"You knew, when you received this claim, that Mr. Shelby had been
accused of .ually inappropriate conduct by Rivera, Tovar,
Guerrero-Valles, Perez, as of the date of Tanori's claim, correct?"
Dordick asked.
"They were there," Ruiz said. "But if you're asking me did I recall it
every time that I got a grievance on someone, a past grievance, I
didn't."
Ward fears for his life
Ruiz did contend that it was rare to get grievances alleging improper
homo.ual conduct at the Stark institution involving a ward and staff.
Tanori's grievance wasigned for an inquiry, which was terminated
when the ward was paroled less than two weeks later on Aug. 11, 2000.
"Did anyone ever have a talk with him about improper .ual contact with
wards?" Dordick asked
"I do not believe so," Ruiz answered.
On April 1, 2002, ward Thomas Delgado wrote a letter to Ruiz alleging
that Shelby made .ual advances toward him and that he had other wards
threaten him not to file a grievance against Shelby.
"I fear for my life because I feel Mr. Shelby might get my door racked
for his mission boys to run in my room," Ruiz read from the ward's
letter. "Also Mr. Shelby approached me by telling me that if I let him
give me oral that I wouldn't have nothing to worry about anything
financially. I guess he told me this `cause I had told him that I don't
have any family support."
"Did you have some level of concern, so to say, when you got this
letter?" Dordick asked.
"I don't recall," Ruiz said. "I don't recall this letter. And remember
there's hundreds of letters I get. And dozens of grievances."
"Would the nature of these allegations be something that you would
consider very important to properly investigate?" Dordick asked.
"Yes," Ruiz said. "I should have done something with it.
Delgado's claim was not sustained, as he was unable to provide
supportive information or witnesses that could corroborate his
allegation.
Less than a year later, on March 5, 2003, another grievance alleging
.ually inappropriate contact between wards and Shelby was filed.
Ward allegedlyaulted by Shelby
Ward Tyrone Walker alleged he was .uallyaulted by Shelby in G and
H holding room. He asked to speak with "the inspector general and the
internal affairs" about his situation.
"I don't know when I saw this," Ruiz said. "Must not have been at work.
That's why it was signed (another supervisor)."
Six months later, on Oct. 20, 2003, yet another grievance about Shelby
came in.
"I have received information from several wards that YCC James Shelby
has offered .ual advances to them for job opportunities and material
goods from the community that are not allowed into the facility and is
considered contraband according to policy if they engaged in any .ual
activity," Ruiz read it out loud.
The grievance form identified the wards as Alejandro Espinoza and Martin
Mendoza, two of the four wards suing Shelby and the administrators.
Ruiz said he didn't process Walker's grievance because it was based on
hearsay information.
"Three pages of information with specific details of the type of
contraband, who it was given to, the nature of the .ual claims, who
was involved, and all of that, in your view, is insufficient to even do
the slightest basic level inquiry, is that correct?" Dordick asked.
"That's correct," Ruiz answered. "For me to open up anything with
regards to hearsay, only be running around the whole institution for a
long time. And then, bringing up other wards that may not even know
what's in the grievance could jeopardize the ward's safety."
"Like Mr. Rivera, who denied being orally copulated by Mr. Shelby?"
Dordick asked. "Did it occur to you that perhaps wards that had been
engaged in homo.ual conduct with Mr. Shelby might not be eager to
document that?"
"No, it did not," Ruiz answered.
Ruiz will continue his testimony on Monday.
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