Attorney seeks abuse records

City should release information on sex abuse case, lawyer insists; city says it’s protecting children.A Costa Mesa-based attorney is alleging that Newport Beach city officials are withholding important information about acts of sexual abuse committed by a former city employee who is now serving a life sentence for lewd acts with children.

City officials say the allegations, which are related to confidentiality agreements signed by the families of victims, are unwarranted.

Attorney John Manly, prominent in the Catholic Church sex-abuse cases, ran a full-page advertisement in Sunday’s Daily Pilot, asking that anyone with information about Trenton Veches, a former recreation coordinator with the city of Newport Beach, come forward. Veches was convicted of 23 felony counts of committing lewd acts with a child and two misdemeanor counts of sexual assault.

Manly represents the family of one of Veches’ alleged victims, who has filed a claim against the city of Newport Beach. A claim is a prerequisite to a civil lawsuit, which is filed to seek monetary damages, said Dan Spradlin, the attorney representing the city. As of late Monday, no such lawsuit had been filed.

Manly’s client is one of seven families who filed claims against the city beginning in December 2002. The claim filed by Manly’s client is the only one outstanding. Of the others, one was dropped and the remaining claims were settled out of court for amounts ranging from $10,000 to $199,000, Spradlin said.

Manly said the city conducted an internal investigation and asked the families who settled claims to sign a confidentiality agreement.

In order to make sure this kind of sexual abuse doesn’t happen again, the city should allow the victims to speak and make the documents public, Manly said.

“I’m offended that the city of Newport Beach would try and shut people up and have people sign confidentiality agreements,” Manly said.

Some of the families of victims did sign a confidentiality agreement, but it was done to protect the children, said Newport Beach City Manager Homer Bludau.

“There has been no desire to shut up anyone,” Bludau said. “The parents have signed confidentially agreements because they felt it was in the best interest of their children.”

Veches was convicted in 2003 and sentenced to life in prison; he was accused of sucking the toes of 20 young boys who had been enrolled in the city’s programs. Veches, then 32, also pleaded guilty to one misdemeanor count of possessing child pornography.

The city held a mediation meeting with Manly and his clients Thursday, Spradlin said. An agreement was not reached, and subsequently, Manly threatened that he would “go public,” Bludau said.

“We indicated that we were interested in resolving the case and we would not respond well to threats,” Spradlin said.

Manly, who declined to comment about the mediation, said he published the advertisement in the paper because he’s “investigating the Veches matter.”

“There’s a financial component, but more importantly we want to know what happened so it doesn’t happen again,” Manly said.

Ryan DiMaria, an attorney who works with Manly, said the money received in such a settlement works to prevent future sexual abuse.

“The money plays a big role in deterring future conduct like this,” DiMaria said.

The advertisement ran only in Sunday’s Daily Pilot, but Manly said he plans to run the advertisement in other papers. 20051220h32sisn1(LA)Trenton Veches