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Probation officer accused of child
abuse November 10, 2007
By Susannah Rosenblatt
The juvenile hall worker is
indicted for allegedly allowing four minors to assault a boy she
suspected of stealing her cellphone. A Los Angeles County probation
officer who was fired for opening minors' cells and allowing them to
fight with one another was indicted this week on felony child abuse
charges, prosecutors said.
Diane Buchanan, 37, who had worked
at Barry J. Nidorf Juvenile Hall in Sylmar, was arraigned Tuesday.
She pleaded not guilty to one count each of willful cruelty likely
to produce great bodily injury or death to a child, corporal injury
to a child and assault with a deadly weapon, not a firearm, with
great bodily injury.
In May 2005, Buchanan allegedly
accused a youth at Nidorf of stealing her cellphone, subsequently
allowing four other minors to retaliate against the accused thief by
physically assaulting him. The injured youth was left in his cell
and did not receive treatment until the next day, according to
Probation Department documents. Buchanan later found the phone in
the juvenile hall's parking lot.
Chief Probation Officer Robert B.
Taylor, who urged prosecutors to review the incident, said he "was
actually pleased" with the charges: "We believe that somebody who's
engaged in the public trust and violates that trust . . . should be
prosecuted."
The indictment was returned Oct. 12
but remained sealed until Buchanan's arraignment. If convicted, she
could face up to six years in state prison.
The charges come amid continued
U.S. Department of Justice scrutiny of the county's three juvenile
halls, which were cited for problems with mental health care, safety
and the education of adolescent offenders.
susannah.rosenblatt@ latimes.com
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