At least 11 Los Angeles County juvenile probation officers have been convicted of crimes or disciplined in recent years for conduct involving current or former probationers, including several cases of molesting or beating youths in their care.

Additionally, two other officers are the focus of internal affairs investigations for allegedly having sex with probationers, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Probation officials declined comment, saying they were prohibited from talking about the alleged misconduct. The Times identified the cases via court documents, law enforcement records and department sources.

Among the incidents:

• A probation officer had sex with three youths in the detention hall where she worked — in laundry, supply and interview rooms. She was sentenced last year to four years in prison after pleading guilty to five counts of felony sexual abuse.

• A probation officer caught on tape beating a youth in a juvenile hall recreation room was convicted last year of battery and sentenced to 24 months’ probation.

• A probation officer was sentenced to a year in jail last year for directing five teenagers under her care to beat another youngster who she mistakenly believed had stolen her cellphone.

Los Angeles County probation officers are responsible for 3,000 youths in 21 detention halls and camps. The juvenile justice system is one of the biggest in the nation, with an annual budget of about $700 million and has been the subject of federal investigations in recent years for failing to prevent, report and document child abuse, The Times reported.

The Times investigation covers the past four years — a period during which county officials hired Robert Taylor to head the agency with the mandate of reforming the department, including providing better oversight of officers.

At the time he took over, the department was struggling with violence in its halls and camps and persistent criticism that it was doing little to help the juvenile offenders in its care, the newspaper reported.

Probation officials have sustained 102 allegations of officer misconduct involving youths at the county’s halls and camps over the last three years, a department source told The Times. Many of the sustained cases involved complaints of excessive force, according to the source.

Department officials did not disclose how many officers were involved in misconduct or the extent of any discipline.

Taylor retired Feb. 5., and former Ventura County probation chief Cal Remington has been serving as acting chief. Former Alameda County probation chief Donald H. Blevins, whose appointment was confirmed last week, is set to take over April 19.

Taylor told the newspaper he coordinated undercover investigations with the Sheriff’s Department in an effort to weed out problem officers. In 2008, a probation officer at Central Juvenile Hall was arrested on suspicion of dealing marijuana to youths and fired, though no criminal charges have been filed, The Times reported.

Taylor said he did not consider the current personnel problems any worse than those at other large law enforcement agencies.

He did acknowledge that many of the 600 surveillance cameras at juvenile facilities — meant to protect officers and wards of the county — are broken. Last month, the county Board of Supervisors agreed to spend about $1.2 million to determine how best to replace some cameras and other security equipment.

Two years ago, federal investigators found that the department failed to investigate and document officer abuses, including excessive use of force on probationers.

The department has eight internal affairs investigators to review hundreds of complaints filed against 6,200 probation officers each year, including about 2,900 sworn officers working with juveniles, the newspaper reported.

By comparison, the Los Angeles Police Department has 271 internal affairs investigators for 9,900 sworn officers; the Sheriff’s Department has about 30 internal affairs investigators for about 10,000 sworn officers, The Times reported.

A 15-member commission appointed by county supervisors is supposed to monitor the department and advise the probation chief. Commissioners can ask the probation chief to investigate alleged misconduct, and if probation officials fail to take action, they can bring complaints to county supervisors.

But they rarely do and have never forced the department to disclose probation
personnel records, commission President Don Meredith, a retired Glendale police lieutenant, told The Times.

Commissioner Jo Kaplan said the panel had limited sway with probation officials concerning misconduct.

“When we bring it up, they say they can’t discuss it with us because it’s internal matters, confidential,” Kaplan told The Times. “We have no oversight.”

Teachers at probation camps and halls are required to report suspected abuse but often do not because they are afraid of the consequences, said Mark Lewis, president of the teachers union of the Los Angeles County Education Association.

“There is this belief that if I report something or file a child abuse report against a probation officer, that probation is not going to come when I need them ... or they’re going to set me up,” Lewis told The Times. “So there is a tendency not to report.”

The telephone number for reporting misconduct, on Web sites and signs posted in the halls and camps, to the Probation Department’s ombudsman was inoperable until three weeks ago, when a spokeswoman responding to calls from The Times said an “urgent work order” had been submitted to repair it.