On Mar 7, 8:03=A0pm, Andre Turpin wrote:
> http://www.contracostatimes.com/california/ci_14522046?nclick_check=3D1
>
> 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.
So much for counseling youngster with . ident9ty or confusion
issues.crasc |
