-- Deepa Bharath BRIEFLY IN THE NEWS...

-- Deepa Bharath

BRIEFLY IN

THE NEWS

Hearing held for former youth worker

Newport Beach Police investigators testified at a Thursday

preliminary hearing at the Harbor Justice Center for a former city

recreation coordinator accused of inappropriately touching several

young boys.

Trenton Michael Veches was arrested in April on suspicion of

behaving inappropriately with several boys, 10 years of age or

younger. He faces felony charges for allegedly sucking the boys’

toes. Police confiscated several digital images from Veches’ home

computer showing him performing the acts, investigators said.

Police identified more than 50 victims in those pictures, all boys

who had participated in the city’s after-school and summer programs

Veches supervised over the last three years. He was arrested after a

co-worker tipped off officials that Veches was behaving

inappropriately with the children.

The city held a special meeting for anxious parents weeks after

the arrest where counselors and specialists offered advice on how

parents can deal with the situation -- in some cases, find out if

they had been victimized.

City Manager Homer Bludau said the city is looking to hire a new

recreation coordinator -- a position left vacant when Veches resigned

following his arrest.

“We’re doing everything we can to make sure we hire the right

person,” he said. “We fingerprint our candidates and do background

checks. But no method is 100% foolproof.”

Neither Deputy Dist. Atty. Jana Hoffmann nor Defense Attorney John

Dolan were available for comment Thursday.

Veches’ next court date is scheduled for Oct. 8 at the Central

Justice Center in Santa Ana.