Davis police confirmed Saturday the arrest of a third EMQ FamiliesFirst youth on rape charges, a day after the state Department of Social Services released documents showing the Davis group home was the source of numerous complaints and other troubles over the past two years.
The 17-year-old boy was taken into custody Friday at Yolo County Juvenile Hall in Woodland, where he already was in custody on outstanding warrants, Lt. Glenn Glasgow said. He added that the alleged rape was separate from the reported sexual assault of an 11-year-old FamiliesFirst resident that resulted in the arrests of two boys, ages 13 and 14, earlier in the week.
“During the course of that investigation, we were able to develop information that led us to this case and learn the identity of the person that was responsible for that crime,” which also involved an underage girl from the facility, Glasgow said.
Both alleged rapes occurred away from the FamiliesFirst campus on Fifth Street.
Meanwhile, the Davis Police Department’s online bulletin shows minors were continuing to walk away from the facility without permission as recently as Friday, the same day the state released 28 pages reports detailing investigations into multiple complaints of improper supervision, incident reporting violations and use of unnecessary restraints — including one incident in which a child reportedly suffered broken bones.
Assistant Chief Darren Pytel said last week his department has received more than 500 calls for service from the nonprofit organization since Jan. 1 of this year, some of them resulting in arrests for offenses ranging from shoplifting to fighting to violent assaults.
Pytel said many of the incidents were “related to supervision issues” at FamiliesFirst, which had failed to resolve the problem despite repeated meetings between police and agency staff.
Darrell Evora, president and CEO of EMQ FamiliesFirst, said the nonprofit organization has responded to the recent controversy by increasing staff levels, adding round-the-clock security and implementing new intervention techniques for youths who attempt to leave without permission.
An independent expert also will be brought in to inspect the facility and review its practices in providing housing and support services to youths who are placed their by their families or the courts.
“We’re going to take whatever steps necessary to ensure that the kids are safe and the community is safe,” Evora said in an interview with The Enterprise on Saturday during a visit to the local campus. “We’ve enjoyed a great relationship with Davis for many years, and we plan to continue that.”
Evora said he had not yet heard of the third teen’s arrest, and described himself as “shocked and dismayed” by the rape allegations.
Formal charges had not been filed against the youths as of Friday, according to Yolo County Chief Deputy District Attorney Jonathan Raven, who said his office is still awaiting police reports.
“When we get the reports, we’ll make a charging decision,” Raven said. The younger suspects also remain in custody at Yolo County Juvenile Hall.
History of complaints
Both teens were arrested last Wednesday, the same day that the state Department of Social Services investigators received the second of two complaints that FamiliesFirst staff failed to report its residents going “AWOL” — absent without leave — from the East Davis campus.
The AWOL complaints were among eight the state has received about the facility since March 2012, documents show, with investigators substantiating the following allegations:
* Residents “AWOLing” and acting out physically “at a significant rate,” a dilemma attributed to a lack of sufficient staff to adequately supervise the number of clients at the unlocked facility. One complaint report also indicated the Davis facility accepted clients requiring a “higher level of care” than staff could offer, who disrupted the campus by engaging other residents in unsafe behaviors.
* A senior trainer at the Davis campus used a child to demonstrate the use of restraints during a tour of the campus by medical personnel. “Although the child was not physically harmed, it was a violation of the resident’s personal rights to be unnecessarily restrained,” says the report, dated May 23.
* Complaints that staff “had spoken to residents in a rude manner on numerous occasions” and were “frequently sarcastic or demeaning towards certain clients an nonresponsive or dismissive when asked to meet clients’ emotional needs.”
Other investigations proved inconclusive, including one report that a child who was restrained suffered arm fractures that required surgery to repair.
“It is unclear whether staff intentionally caused the injury, if staff exercised very poor judgment in the moment, or if staff broke the child’s bones by accident,” licensing evaluator Dawn Eunice-MacLean wrote in a report on Jan. 10 of this year. “Although physical abuse may have happened, there is not a preponderance of evidence to substantiate.”
The staff member involved no longer works for the facility, reports say.
Addressing allegations of inadequate supervision, Evora said staff levels at the Davis facility were increased last week to three adults for every 10 children. He confirmed reports that the campus had undergone layoffs back in December and January, but it was because the facility lowered the number of children it served from 72 to 62, “so we were overstaffed.”
State officials approved the revised staff levels, he added.
Evora anticipates both the independent expert’s review and an internal investigation into the rape allegations will begin next week, after Davis police and the DSS’ Community Care Licensing division complete their respective probes.
“I want it started as soon as possible,” Evora said. “Whatever we learn, it will be fixed.”
Lawsuits pending
Meanwhile, EMQ FamiliesFirst also is facing legal woes in Santa Clara County, where it operates a group home in the town of Los Gatos.
The facility is the subject of two civil lawsuits alleging that one of its staffers molested young girls at the facility between 2007 and 2009, and that FamiliesFirst failed to take proper measures to protect the alleged victims.
There are no similar allegations being investigated at the local FamiliesFirst facility, Glasgow, the Davis police lieutenant, confirmed.
“We have no indication that the staff is involved in any type of criminal behavior,” he said.
San Jose attorney Robert Allard, whose firm filed the lawsuits last year, said in a phone interview Friday he was “horrified” to learn of the Davis allegations.
“If EMQ doesn’t feel that it has adequate staffing to safeguard these children, they should get out of the business,” Allard said. “The state places these children there for a reason. For this to happen to them is just unacceptable.”
Evora said while the organization does not comment on pending litigation, he noted that FamiliesFirst staff are subjected to a rigorous screening process that includes background screenings, reference checks and submission of fingerprints to the state Department of Justice to ensure that applicants have no criminal history.
“We do everything we can to screen that out,” Evora said. As for the accused employee, “he hasn’t been proven guilty yet.”
— Reach Lauren Keene at lkeene@davisenterprise.net or 530-747-8048. Follow her on Twitter at @laurenkeene
