Newport close to settling final child abuse case

The city of Newport Beach is close to settling the last of six claims brought by parents and guardians of boys inappropriately touched by a city recreation coordinator.

Trenton Veches was sentenced to life in prison in 2003 for sucking boys’ toes and other inappropriate contact with them in city recreation programs. Settling the claims has cost the city $479,000 so far, according to information from the city attorney.

The claims alleged toe sucking and molestation, and that the city was negligent in hiring and supervising Veches.

The Daily Pilot’s policy is not to name the victims of sexual assault, so this story will not name the parents who filed claims because their children would be identifiable.

The city has settled five claims since July 2003, and officials are now in talks with the plaintiffs about settling one remaining claim for more than $10,000.

Plaintiffs in the other claims each settled for amounts between $50,00 and $199,000.

The problems with Veches raised the city’s awareness of how employees are trained, and some changes have been made, City Manager Homer Bludau said.

“There is annual training that takes place for all of our existing employees, and when new employees come in we talk about this particular incident and that a supervisor was allowed to be alone with children in conflict with our policies,” Bludau said.

Because Veches was a supervisor, employees at the time may not have known where to go with complaints about him, Bludau said, so now employees are instructed to go up the chain of command to report problems.

No other such incidents have happened, he said.

“We do have a number of part-time people who work with us and work with children, and of course those people’s backgrounds are checked, but I just think everybody is more vigilant,” Bludau said.