LOS ANGELES -- Authorities have arrested five employees of a county-run juvenile center on charges ranging from drug peddling to sexually molesting and battering youths at the facility.
Four of the suspects are child treatment counselors and one a maintenance worker at MacLaren Hall in suburban El Monte, which provides a home to abandoned and abused children from the Los Angeles area.
'This is part of a continuing investigation into abuses of various kinds by employees at MacLaren Hall initiated last June,' District Attorney Robert Philibosian said Wednesday.
'We've moved quickly because we are very concerned about the safety and welfare of the youngsters at that county facility.'
Three of the employees were arrested Wednesday and were held in lieu of $5,000 bail pending arraignment.
Edward Lulet, 34, a counselor, was charged with selling cocaine to an undercover agent at the hall; Lee Germaine Powers, 35, also a counselor, was charged with offering to sell marijuana to an agent; and Jose Ramirez, 31, a maintenance worker, was charged with two counts of selling cocaine to an agent.
Authorities in September filed nine charges against Shriff Rasheed, 32, a counselor, for allegedly molesting, raping and exposing himself to three girls aged 13, 14 and 15, and for providing marijuana to minors on a field trip.
He faces a preliminary hearing Dec. 21.
Also charged earlier was Raafat Maximous, 41, another counselor, facing a misdemeanor battery charge because he allegedly struck a 10-year-old boy in the throat last June.
