Two-thirds of the 30 Los Angeles County probation officers originally accused of enabling “gladiator-style fights” at Los Padrinos Juvenile Hall have now had their cases dismissed, court records show.
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This week, a judge dismissed charges against four more officers following the completion of community service. Only nine of the original cases are still pending, according to records.
“They rushed to filing this case, I don’t think it was a good case,” said Sara Caplan, an attorney for one of the officers. “These people got no help and were expected to work very long hours in very difficult situations.”
The prosecution “held up a lot of people’s lives and livelihood,” she added. Her client has since left the department and is no longer living in the state, but the pending case made it more difficult to find new work.
“I’m happy the wheels of justice spun in the right direction,” she said.
The California Department of Justice launched its investigation after the Los Angeles Times published surveillance footage showing youths attacking a 17-year-old one at a time, as each entered a day room at Los Padrinos in Downey. At least four officers stood by during the assaults, while two others halfheartedly attempted to break them up. Some could be seen laughing and shaking hands with the attackers.
The investigation uncovered even more fights, with Attorney General Rob Bonta saying officers “looked more like referees or audience members at a prize fight, not adults charged with the care or supervision of young people.”
The California Attorney General’s Office did not respond to a request to comment on the more recent dismissals. In a statement in April, a spokesperson said the department adjusts its cases against defendants based on “continued consideration of all evidence developed before, during and after criminal charges were initiated.”
Attorney Tom Yu, who represents one of the four whose cases were dismissed, said his client, who worked as a director at Los Padrinos, did not have any knowledge of the fights and had only been assigned to the juvenile hall for a week.
His client had to complete 40 hours of community service and use-of-force training prior to the dismissal of charges.
Yu said he believes the prosecution filed the charges with a “specific outlook” and then reevaluated as they obtained more information.
“We’re very pleased that the case for my client is dismissed,” he said.
A Los Angeles County grand jury indicted the 30 employees, ranging from detention service officers to at least one supervisor, in March 2025. All of the employees were placed on unpaid leave at the time.
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The fights, which occurred from June to December 2023, involved 143 victims ranging in age from 12 to 18, according to the DOJ.
The original indictment described specific allegations against only three of the officers — Taneha Brooks, Shawn Smyles and Nancy Sostre — and did not have any examples for the other 27, leading some defense attorneys and those within the Probation Department to claim the prosecution had overreached.
The indictment alleged Smyles and Brooks allowed up to nine combatants to engage in fights that occurred at least five times over the six-month period. The pair allegedly told new officers about fights in advance and warned them “not to say anything, write down anything and just watch when youth fights occurred,” the indictment states.
In December 2023, Smyles, Brooks and Sostre allowed one youth to participate in “eight one-on-one fights” that led to him sustaining a broken nose, according to the indictment. Smyles allegedly told the youth involved to “refuse treatment” from the facility’s nurses.
That month, Smyles gave a “briefing” to new detention service officers and told them the fights were “how they operated and controlled the youths and the unit,” the court filing states.
Los Angeles County later agreed to pay a $2.7 million settlement to one teen involved in the fights. Others have filed similar claims since the indictments.
All nine of the remaining officers are charged with willful cruelty to a child. Brooks, Smyles and Sostre also face conspiracy charges. Smyles is additionally charged with battery.
All of the officers with pending cases have pleaded not guilty.
The charges came at a particularly challenging time for Los Padrinos. State regulators had declared the juvenile hall “unsuitable” for the confinement of youths due to a severe staffing shortage and had ordered it to close just months earlier in December 2024.
The facility remains open today, though still deemed “unsuitable,” and is locked in two legal battles over the juvenile hall’s future. Both cases are still pending.
The Board of State and Community Corrections, the regulatory body overseeing California’s jails and juvenile halls, began a reinspection of the facility in August and followed up with another visit this week, but it is not expected to make a final determination on whether the facility is “suitable” again until a more comprehensive inspection is completed early next year.
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