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A Los Angeles County probation officer was arrested final week and accused of getting intercourse with a minor who was being held in a juvenile facility, the division stated Monday.
The officer, who was not recognized within the division’s assertion, was arrested March 7 and charged with having intercourse with an inmate, arranging a gathering with a minor for lewd functions and bringing contraband right into a jail.
A legislation enforcement supply, who requested anonymity as a result of they weren’t licensed to talk with the media, recognized the officer as 51-year-old Rafaela Martinez. L.A. County Sheriff’s Division reserving information present an individual by that identify was arrested for a felony on March 7. Martinez was assigned to detention companies, in response to a replica of the division’s roster.
The probation division declined to remark past its public assertion.
Investigators grew to become conscious of the state of affairs after they recovered a cellphone from a youth in custody on the Dorothy Kirby Heart in Commerce on March 7, in response to the probation division’s assertion. The system contained intimate texts and photographs between the youth and the officer, the division stated.
“Info supported by a warrant led investigators to communications between the detained youth and Probation Officer,” the assertion learn. “A few of these communications appeared to have occurred whereas the worker was at work and there have been photographs which can be sexual in nature.”
The girl was arrested a short while later, in response to the probation division, and she or he was additionally accused of bringing a cellphone and a prescription remedy bottle right into a jail facility.
A case has not but been offered to the L.A. County district legal professional’s workplace.
Information of the arrest drew swift condemnation from county leaders.
“The reported actions are heinous and problematic on each stage. Arrest and swift investigation are the one acceptable responses,” L.A. County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath stated. “We should root out each dangerous actor from a Probation Division lengthy tormented by a tradition of corruption.”
Supervisor Kathryn Barger added that there needs to be “zero tolerance” for such habits and that the county’s “youth deserve higher.”
The alleged incident marks the most recent in a years-long sequence of scandals for the probation division, which has been tormented by a staffing disaster and had a number of of its amenities shuttered by a state oversight board lately. Los Padrinos juvenile corridor in Downey may very well be shuttered later this 12 months.
The arrest is one in every of at the least two allegations of sexual misconduct in opposition to a probation officer at the moment being investigated by county officers.
Earlier this 12 months, a youth being held at Los Padrinos claimed a feminine officer he met whereas in custody tried to provoke a romantic relationship with him after he was launched in late 2023, in response to two sources with direct information of the state of affairs. The sources requested for anonymity as a result of they weren’t licensed to debate the matter publicly.
The probation division declined to remark, citing a “strict coverage of confidentiality concerning personnel issues, together with cases of misconduct.”
Requested in regards to the case, Pamela Johnson, a spokeswoman for the district legal professional’s workplace, stated final month: “We’re conscious of an analogous allegation that’s below investigation however has not been offered to this workplace for submitting consideration.”
The sources stated the alleged incident involving the Los Padrinos officer has additionally been reported to the California Division of Justice, which entered right into a settlement with the probation division in 2021 to mandate reforms to the troubled company.
Occasions workers author Rebecca Ellis contributed to this report.
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