City settles recreation worker claim

Deepa Bharath

The city has settled one of five claims made by parents of boys

inappropriately touched by a former recreation coordinator who

supervised the city’s after-school programs and holiday camps.

Officials declined to say which of the claims has been settled out

of court because the agreement is sealed.

Trenton Veches was sentenced to life in prison on July 11 for

sucking the toes of several young boys enrolled in the city’s

programs. A jury in May found the 32-year-old man guilty of 23 counts

of felony lewd act with a child and two misdemeanor counts of sexual

assault. He had also pleaded guilty to one misdemeanor count of

possessing child pornography.

In December, parents of three young boys molested by Veches sued

the city for negligence and negligent hiring. In their suit, the

plaintiffs allege that the city “breached its duties by failing to

use care in hiring, retaining and supervising Veches.”

Dan Spradlin, an Orange attorney who is representing the city in

all the Veches-related claims, said the case was settled last month.

“The city deeply regrets the fact that the children were exposed

to [Veches’] inappropriate actions,” he said. “We hope to resolve

these claims soon to minimize the trauma for these children.”

Spradlin declined to go into the details of the settlement because

it is “sealed” and not public information. Sherri Honer, an attorney

for the plaintiff, also declined to comment about the claim or the

case. The Pilot, which has a policy of not naming the victims of such

assaults, is not naming the plaintiffs because their children would

be identifiable.

Newport Beach City Manger Homer Bludau said the city is working to

train all its recreation employees “to make sure they’re aware of the

rules in terms of contact with kids.”

“The recreation departments also have a lot of turnover,” he said.

“So training is something we’re going to have to do on an ongoing

basis.”

Bludau said the problem in the situation with Veches was that

Veches was the supervisor himself.

“He was the person to whom other recreation coordinators would go

to if they wanted to report something,” he said.

As a result, there was probably some uncertainty about how to

report Veches’ actions, Bludau said.

“We’re just working on creating a heightened awareness and a

better understanding of the city’s policies in this regard,” he said.

Bludau said the city did background checks on Veches, but did not

find anything suspicious.

The parents’ complaint states that Veches’ e-mail address before

being hired four years ago by the city was wildyouth@aol.com. They

argued that should have been a tip-off to city officials that they

needed to look more closely into their hire.

But Bludau said the city would not normally keep track of their

employees’ personal e-mail.

“It’s not something the city could’ve looked at,” he said.

* DEEPA BHARATH covers public safety and courts. She may be

reached at (949) 574-4226 or by e-mail at deepa.bharath@latimes.com.