latimes--2020-07-31--Fears grow that releasing thousands of California prisoners will spread COVID-19 into communities

Missteps by corrections officials handling releases from state prisons are fueling fears in some California counties that thousands of inmates eligible for early release will spread the coronavirus in their communities .
Across the state , county probation officials and others on the front lines of the release of as many as 8,000 inmates by the end of August have complained that prisoners were recently freed with little notice to local authorities and without appropriate transportation or quarantine housing — and in some cases , no clear indication they were virus-free .
County officials also have expressed alarm about potentially @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to ride on public transportation and mingle with the public .
“ We have done everything we can to contain the virus , but they aren ’ t helping , ” said Richard Egan , Lassen County administrative officer , referring to corrections officials he contends repeatedly “ dumped ” potentially contagious inmates there before establishing a quarantine regimen .
In a July 20 letter , Barbara Longo , Lassen County ’ s director of health and social services , asked the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to test and isolate inmates @ @ @ @ @ @ @ She cited the case of a recently released inmate , who visited with another freed prisoner while quarantined at a local hotel .
“ We do not know how many times he left his room to go out , ” she wrote .
“ However , his 2 test ( s ) came back positive , 10 days after his release.
” Local officials ’ concerns stem in part from the ill-fated transfer in late May of 121 inmates from a coronavirus-ridden prison in Chino to San Quentin , triggering an outbreak there @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and sickened more than 2,000 others .
Some Chino inmates were cleared for the move based on month-old test results that were useless , leading to a tightening of testing protocols that came too late for many .
At least 47 inmates have been killed by COVID-19 as more than two-thirds of California ’ s 35 state prisons have been affected .
The system had logged 8,039 cases by Thursday , when the count of active infections stood at 1,399 .
Earlier this month , Gov .
Gavin Newsom announced plans to alleviate @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 8,000 inmates and further reducing the population by about 10,000 through delayed admissions .
So far , the state has freed 246 inmates listed as “ active ” COVID-19 cases .
They include Michael Kirkpatrick , 62 , who had been deemed suitable for parole and was awaiting final approval when he was released from San Quentin on July 13 and driven to a downtown San Francisco hotel to quarantine with other recently freed inmates .
All were asked to stay put in their single rooms during their isolation , Kirkpatrick said , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ walking around San Francisco while awaiting the results of COVID-19 tests taken the day they were released .
“ The only time you were supposed to come out is when they knocked on your door and brought you food , ” he said .
“ But you got guys who are just getting out of prison and want their freedom .
The person at the front desk is not going to tell you not to go anywhere.
” Kirkpatrick , who has since moved to transitional housing , said he only learned of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ with a parole officer .
In the meantime , he said , he received not so much as a temperature check during quarantine , so he and a couple of other former inmates went to a county public health office and got tested .
“ None of us knew anything , and it was bringing up a lot of stress , ” he said .
“ We didn ’ t know anything and nobody was contacting us.
” All tested negative , he said .
Joe Anderson was released early from the California @ @ @ @ @ @ @ serving time for fraud .
Anderson , 32 , said he left as coronavirus spread “ like a wildfire ” through the Chino prison .
“ They checked my temperature and that was about it , ” he said , recalling that he hitched a ride to Sacramento with another inmate ’ s mother and sister and then got a lift to Mendocino County .
He visited a Dollar Tree and a Wal-Mart before being summoned by the county health department for a coronavirus test , five days after his arrival , he @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , and Anderson said the probation department immediately asked him in a polite but stern way to take a free room at the local Best Western for 14 days .
He was asymptomatic but could have been spreading the disease without knowing it .
“ I just wonder how many people they let go like me , ” he said .
Corrections officials have not explained the faulty testing at Chino or other specific problems related to early releases , instead pointing to steps they ’ ve taken to prevent recurrences .
Recently @ @ @ @ @ @ @ done no more than seven days before release .
Those who test positive will be isolated and kept in prison until they are no longer contagious , according to the corrections department .
An inmate ’ s case is deemed resolved once at least five days have passed after a fever has gone away without temperature-reducing drugs , and at least 14 days after a positive diagnosis is made .
Corrections officials said that early-release inmates in quarantine status are referred to Project Hope , a voluntary initiative that provides free hotel rooms @ @ @ @ @ @ @ participate , or do not get special permission to be released to a private residence , will remain in prison for the 14-day period , officials said .
The growing numbers of expedited releases , combined with shutdowns of programs because of the virus , have upended how local authorities deal with newly freed prisoners .
“ We are reinventing how reentry works , ” said Alameda County probation chief Wendy Still .
“ That ’ s what we are seeing being built in an ad hoc kind of way.
” Still , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and most progressive in the state , said that despite early problems , it now has a system in place to quarantine early releases for 14 days in local hotels ; those who comply will have the time deducted from the end of their probation period .
Despite “ good intentions by the state , ” she said , her department assumes that everyone coming out of prison is potentially positive for the virus because of the intervals between testing and release .
“ There is no guarantee that if you are tested @ @ @ @ @ @ @ test positive the next , ” Still said .
Her staff must wear full protective gear with every new release , and is largely communicating with those released via phone or internet .
Simple tasks , such as picking someone up from prison , have become costly and complicated , with individual probation officers having to sometimes make on-the-fly decisions about safety .
“ It is stressful , ” Still said .
“ They ’ re a peace officer , so they are sworn to protect , but they are human too , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ themselves but their families.
” Probation departments in particular have been hard hit , since most of those coming out of state prisons are being sent into county supervision .
Though the state recently provided $ 15 million in housing aid , many departments are overtaxed by the sheer volume .
Lonnie Reyman , chief probation officer for Del Norte County in the northwest corner of the state , said his agency has been “ forced to scramble ” as people are released with little notice , and sometimes without housing and services @ @ @ @ @ @ @ his , there are few nonprofits or outside agencies to assist them , leaving probation departments to handle social service tasks , including finding housing , job placement and now even food deliveries .
Reyman is unsure how much of that help his office will be able to provide .
“ That just cuts off at the knees any plans to reintegrate people coming out , ” he said .
Reyman said his department has seen about seven releases so far and expects about that many in coming months , which are “ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is a group of people that we would expect to get over the next six to 12 months , and they are all coming out in the next weeks , ” Reyman said .
“ The plan is changing on a daily basis.
” Karen McDaniel , founder of Fighting for Families Impacted by Incarceration , which offers rides home and other help to those being released , said her organization has been overwhelmed by the need for their services .
Recently , she helped shuttle people from Wasco State Prison in Kern @ @ @ @ @ @ @ people over two days .
McDaniel said prison officials suggested the men use Amtrak for transportation .
“ Why in the world would you even consider dropping off any amount of formerly incarcerated people at Amtrak right now ?
” she said .
“ What are you even thinking ?
I had to mobilize tons of drivers to get out there to get these guys back home because we don ’ t want them on public transportation.
” She said she is frustrated that the corrections department has not provided funding or resources @ @ @ @ @ @ @ critical links in the reentry process .
“ It is tremendous pressure , ” McDaniel said .
“ We shouldn ’ t be the ones completely tasked by the state of California for getting all these releases home .
It ’ s really quite frankly astounding.
” Corrections officials said inmates released to “ quarantine status ” are not permitted to take public transportation .
But some who are not quarantined wonder if they should be .
On Thursday afternoon , Rod Thompson Sr. sat at the Amtrak station in the rural town @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to Bakersfield , hours after being released from Avenal State Prison in Kings County .
From there , he planned to take a bus to Los Angeles , and was hopeful he could get in touch with his parole officer before closing time to see if a quarantine hotel was possible .
Though Thompson tested positive for COVID-19 in May , suffering only mild symptoms , he was unsure if he still carried the virus and didn ’ t want to infect others at the shared housing that was his other option .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ to be safe , ” he said .
“ I have somewhere to reside ... but I don ’ t feel comfortable going there right now because I don ’ t know if I am contagious .
”

Anita Chabria, Richard Winton, Kim Christensen

Rod Thompson Sr. 35, who was recently released early from Avenal State Prison because of the coronavirus outbreak, took Amtrak to L.A.’s Union Station after his release, even though he had tested positive for COVID-19 in May and was not sure if he still carried the virus.
Missteps by corrections officials handling releases from state prisons are fueling fears in some California counties that thousands of inmates eligible for early release will spread the coronavirus in their communities.
Across the state, county probation officials and others on the front lines of the release of as many as 8,000 inmates by the end of August have complained that prisoners were recently freed with little notice to local authorities and without appropriate transportation or quarantine housing — and in some cases, no clear indication they were virus-free.
County officials also have expressed alarm about potentially infected inmates who were released and allowed to ride on public transportation and mingle with the public.
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“We have done everything we can to contain the virus, but they aren’t helping,” said Richard Egan, Lassen County administrative officer, referring to corrections officials he contends repeatedly “dumped” potentially contagious inmates there before establishing a quarantine regimen.
In a July 20 letter, Barbara Longo, Lassen County’s director of health and social services, asked the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to test and isolate inmates for 14 days before releasing them. She cited the case of a recently released inmate, who visited with another freed prisoner while quarantined at a local hotel.
“We do not know how many times he left his room to go out,” she wrote. “However, his 2 test(s) came back positive, 10 days after his release.”
Local officials’ concerns stem in part from the ill-fated transfer in late May of 121 inmates from a coronavirus-ridden prison in Chino to San Quentin, triggering an outbreak there that has killed at least 19 inmates and sickened more than 2,000 others.
Some Chino inmates were cleared for the move based on month-old test results that were useless, leading to a tightening of testing protocols that came too late for many.
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At least 47 inmates have been killed by COVID-19 as more than two-thirds of California’s 35 state prisons have been affected. The system had logged 8,039 cases by Thursday, when the count of active infections stood at 1,399.
Earlier this month, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced plans to alleviate the outbreak by releasing as many as 8,000 inmates and further reducing the population by about 10,000 through delayed admissions.
So far, the state has freed 246 inmates listed as “active” COVID-19 cases.
They include Michael Kirkpatrick, 62, who had been deemed suitable for parole and was awaiting final approval when he was released from San Quentin on July 13 and driven to a downtown San Francisco hotel to quarantine with other recently freed inmates.
All were asked to stay put in their single rooms during their isolation, Kirkpatrick said, but few did. Some were out walking around San Francisco while awaiting the results of COVID-19 tests taken the day they were released.
“The only time you were supposed to come out is when they knocked on your door and brought you food,” he said. “But you got guys who are just getting out of prison and want their freedom. The person at the front desk is not going to tell you not to go anywhere.”
Kirkpatrick, who has since moved to transitional housing, said he only learned of his test results when he checked in with a parole officer. In the meantime, he said, he received not so much as a temperature check during quarantine, so he and a couple of other former inmates went to a county public health office and got tested.
“None of us knew anything, and it was bringing up a lot of stress,” he said. “We didn’t know anything and nobody was contacting us.”
All tested negative, he said.
Joe Anderson was released early from the California Institution for Men in April, after serving time for fraud. Anderson, 32, said he left as coronavirus spread “like a wildfire” through the Chino prison.
“They checked my temperature and that was about it,” he said, recalling that he hitched a ride to Sacramento with another inmate’s mother and sister and then got a lift to Mendocino County.
He visited a Dollar Tree and a Wal-Mart before being summoned by the county health department for a coronavirus test, five days after his arrival, he said.
The test came back positive, and Anderson said the probation department immediately asked him in a polite but stern way to take a free room at the local Best Western for 14 days. He was asymptomatic but could have been spreading the disease without knowing it.
“I just wonder how many people they let go like me,” he said.
Corrections officials have not explained the faulty testing at Chino or other specific problems related to early releases, instead pointing to steps they’ve taken to prevent recurrences.
Recently established protocols now require testing to be done no more than seven days before release.
Those who test positive will be isolated and kept in prison until they are no longer contagious, according to the corrections department. An inmate’s case is deemed resolved once at least five days have passed after a fever has gone away without temperature-reducing drugs, and at least 14 days after a positive diagnosis is made.
Corrections officials said that early-release inmates in quarantine status are referred to Project Hope, a voluntary initiative that provides free hotel rooms and food. Those who decline to participate, or do not get special permission to be released to a private residence, will remain in prison for the 14-day period, officials said.
The growing numbers of expedited releases, combined with shutdowns of programs because of the virus, have upended how local authorities deal with newly freed prisoners.
“We are reinventing how reentry works,” said Alameda County probation chief Wendy Still. “That’s what we are seeing being built in an ad hoc kind of way.”
Still, whose department is one of the best-funded and most progressive in the state, said that despite early problems, it now has a system in place to quarantine early releases for 14 days in local hotels; those who comply will have the time deducted from the end of their probation period.
Despite “good intentions by the state,” she said, her department assumes that everyone coming out of prison is potentially positive for the virus because of the intervals between testing and release.
“There is no guarantee that if you are tested one day, you won’t test positive the next,” Still said.
Her staff must wear full protective gear with every new release, and is largely communicating with those released via phone or internet. Simple tasks, such as picking someone up from prison, have become costly and complicated, with individual probation officers having to sometimes make on-the-fly decisions about safety.
“It is stressful,” Still said. “They’re a peace officer, so they are sworn to protect, but they are human too, so they have concerns not only for themselves but their families.”
Probation departments in particular have been hard hit, since most of those coming out of state prisons are being sent into county supervision. Though the state recently provided $15 million in housing aid, many departments are overtaxed by the sheer volume.
Lonnie Reyman, chief probation officer for Del Norte County in the northwest corner of the state, said his agency has been “forced to scramble” as people are released with little notice, and sometimes without housing and services in place.
In small counties like his, there are few nonprofits or outside agencies to assist them, leaving probation departments to handle social service tasks, including finding housing, job placement and now even food deliveries. Reyman is unsure how much of that help his office will be able to provide.
“That just cuts off at the knees any plans to reintegrate people coming out,” he said.
Reyman said his department has seen about seven releases so far and expects about that many in coming months, which are “huge numbers for us.”
“This is a group of people that we would expect to get over the next six to 12 months, and they are all coming out in the next weeks,” Reyman said. “The plan is changing on a daily basis.”
Karen McDaniel, founder of Fighting for Families Impacted by Incarceration, which offers rides home and other help to those being released, said her organization has been overwhelmed by the need for their services.
Recently, she helped shuttle people from Wasco State Prison in Kern County after the facility released about 60 people over two days. McDaniel said prison officials suggested the men use Amtrak for transportation.
“Why in the world would you even consider dropping off any amount of formerly incarcerated people at Amtrak right now?” she said. “What are you even thinking? I had to mobilize tons of drivers to get out there to get these guys back home because we don’t want them on public transportation.”
She said she is frustrated that the corrections department has not provided funding or resources for organizations like hers, which form critical links in the reentry process.
“It is tremendous pressure,” McDaniel said. “We shouldn’t be the ones completely tasked by the state of California for getting all these releases home. It’s really quite frankly astounding.”
Corrections officials said inmates released to “quarantine status” are not permitted to take public transportation. But some who are not quarantined wonder if they should be.
On Thursday afternoon, Rod Thompson Sr. sat at the Amtrak station in the rural town of Hanford waiting for the 12:24 train to Bakersfield, hours after being released from Avenal State Prison in Kings County.
From there, he planned to take a bus to Los Angeles, and was hopeful he could get in touch with his parole officer before closing time to see if a quarantine hotel was possible.
Though Thompson tested positive for COVID-19 in May, suffering only mild symptoms, he was unsure if he still carried the virus and didn’t want to infect others at the shared housing that was his other option.
“I want to self-quarantine again just to be safe,” he said. “I have somewhere to reside ... but I don’t feel comfortable going there right now because I don’t know if I am contagious.”


latimes--2020-07-31--L.A. County's tracing team repeatedly failed to detect coronavirus outbreaks at workplaces

One by one workers at the Farmer John pork processing plant began getting sick with the coronavirus in March .
Public health officials had created a system to help contain such outbreaks : The county ’ s fast-expanding army of contact tracers would be notified within 24 hours of people who tested positive for the virus .
The county workers would call the patients , make sure they were isolated and determine who else they may have infected .
But the tracers never found the epidemic in the plant , famed for making Dodger Dogs .
By the time the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ at least 116 workers were infected in what had become one of the region ’ s biggest outbreaks .
It ’ s been a grim pattern since the pandemic began .
The county ’ s contact tracing system has repeatedly failed to find workplace outbreaks before they spread widely , placing an ever-expanding circle of employees , their families and others at risk .
Los Angeles County has long been the California epicenter of coronavirus , but in the last two months , the region has seen rapid spread in workplaces as the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ scale back reopenings , a wrenching blow to a city suffering 20 % unemployment .
And many experts agree that economic life is not going to get back to normal until contract tracing dramatically improves and officials gain a better sense of how COVID-19 is spreading .
The county ’ s program , designed for swift identification of those swept up by the pandemic , has been throttled time and again by slow turnaround times for test results from labs , language barriers and uncooperative patients who provide inaccurate or incomplete information , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ said .
Many of those getting sick are low-wage workers who fear financial ruin if they stop working and are too afraid of retaliation to report unsafe work conditions .
The number of people testing positive who tracers have been able to reach has fallen to 68 % in recent weeks , down from 75 % earlier in the pandemic , according to officials .
And only 40 % of those people have been willing to disclose who they may have exposed .
“ We believe this is because people are fearful of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ their relationships , ” said Los Angeles County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer .
Getting information has been so difficult that the county recently began offering $ 20 gift cards to people who agree to be interviewed .
To compensate for the system ’ s weaknesses , the county now requires employers to report outbreaks when three or more workers test positive .
But so far officials have done little to enforce that reporting requirement , and some companies have failed to comply .
Last week , officials said they would begin imposing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ county directives — but not until the end of August .
The consequences of the contact tracing failures are playing out in real time .
This month , county officials blamed workplace outbreaks for playing a major role in the recent surge in infections .
They said the county was receiving an average of nearly 3,000 cases of positive test results a day — about twice as many as the month before .
In an interview , Ferrer acknowledged her staff has scrambled to keep up as they race to respond to hundreds @ @ @ @ @ @ @ virus that scientists are only still learning about .
She called contact tracing “ a valuable tool for slowing the spread of COVID-19 ” but said it “ can not and should not be expected to singlehandedly stop outbreaks in the workplace.
” Ferrer added that the recent surge of cases had made the work of trying to pinpoint the source of infections even more difficult .
“ With this many new daily cases , it is not possible to connect all of the dots , ” she said In some places , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , aggressive use of contact tracing has helped to corral the coronavirus .
American public health departments have used the technique for decades to control outbreaks of measles , tuberculosis and sexually-transmitted diseases .
And experts across the country have heralded it as a key to ending the pandemic .
The county rapidly boosted its core force of 250 contact tracers to 1,600 by reassigning and retraining other government employees , according to county documents .
They included librarians , who are already skilled at interacting with the public , a key to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ surging anew , the county is continuing to add tracers , with 900 more in training .
The workers are aided by a county health order in March that required doctors to immediately report each positive test result to the county , with the person ’ s name , contact information and occupation .
The tracking is essentially a race against the clock .
People who contract COVID-19 are most infectious two days before they first experience symptoms to ten days after , according to federal health officials .
“ Ideally , contact @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” said Susan Donelan , an infectious disease expert at Stony Brook Medicine in New York , referring generally to how speed is needed to make the technique most effective .
“ You try to break the chain of transmission.
” Most of the county ’ s contact tracers work from home .
And it ’ s unclear whether the county is able to monitor the information on employers that the tracers obtain in their interviews of patients for clusters of infections that could be outbreaks .
County officials declined to answer questions @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in early April to help contact tracers record the interview information could be used to search for outbreaks .
Officials described the contact tracing data system that was in place before the upgrade in April as one that was “ paper based.
” The failures have many demanding answers .
“ I want to know where this is happening , ” said Supervisor Janice Hahn early this month .
“ Where are people getting this ?
Is it the grocery store ?
Is it in the churches ?
Is it the restaurants ?
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ it riding Metro ?
Is it at the bars ?
And that ’ s more difficult to ascertain .
Apparently contact tracing is a difficult procedure to gather all the information you ’ d liked to have.
” The hesitation of patients to reveal their employer to contact tracers is one reason the county did not get an early warning as the coronavirus swept through the Farmer John plant this spring , officials say .
“ Many people are very worried about their security at work , ” Ferrer said .
“ It @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that we oftentimes don ’ t get a complete answer.
” Ferrer also pointed out that her staff had initially decided that officials with the small city of Vernon , where the plant is located , should take responsibility for trying to stop the infections .
The county had learned about the outbreak on April 17 , about a month after the first known infections , when Farmer John managers called the city of Vernon to report that six workers had tested positive .
Vernon city officials toured the plant and told the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ measures to stop more infections .
But the cases continued to spread unchecked , according to county documents .
And the county ’ s contact tracers still didn ’ t find them .
It was another month later , on May 18 , that Vernon officials notified the county that the infections had greatly multiplied .
By the time county officials sent a press release on May 24 to warn nearby communities , at least 153 workers had tested positive .
Dozens of other workers were also infected at eight other nearby food @ @ @ @ @ @ @ industrial city that has few residents of its own .
Keira Lombardo , an executive at Smithfield Foods , the company that owns the plant , said managers had worked closely with government officials “ to help ensure COVID-19 cases among our employees are quickly reported.
” “ Everyone with whom they have had close contact ... are notified as soon as possible , ” Lombardo said .
The plant ’ s outbreak has now expanded to 220 workers , according to county documents .
Darryl Blackwell , who works in the plant @ @ @ @ @ @ @ first employees tested positive , said he and his colleagues initially received little information about the spreading infections .
Blackwell said he had wondered why government officials weren ’ t responding to the outbreak and ensuring employees were safe .
“ A lot of people were afraid , ” he said .
“ They fear they will carry it back home to their families.
” The county ’ s contact tracers also failed for months to discover an outbreak at the construction site of SoFi Stadium in Inglewood , where the Rams and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ worker at the 298-acre stadium site tested positive in late March .
The county health department did not start an investigation until mid-June , and only after Times reporters had asked repeated questions about continuing infections at the site .
The county says that 55 workers have now tested positive , with most of the cases reported in June and July .
Sharon Balter , director of county ’ s acute communicable disease control program , said the SoFi case showed how contact tracing can not pinpoint an outbreak at a sprawling worksite @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 3,000 construction workers who are employed by a myriad of subcontractors .
“ It ’ s going to be complicated for us to detect this outbreak until someone reports it to us , ” she said .
Chris McFadden , a spokesman for Turner AECOM Hunt , the joint venture overseeing the construction , declined to say whether the joint venture had reported the workers infections to the county .
Instead he said that the site ’ s management continued to “ meet or exceed ” the county ’ s guidelines .
He @ @ @ @ @ @ @ place to keep people safe .
He said the site had enhanced cleaning and disinfection and requires workers to keep six feet away from each other .
Workers must also have their temperatures checked before entering the site , he said .
If a worker tests positive or has symptoms , McFadden said , “ we launch our own investigation to determine who they may have had close contact with.
” At the bustling Los Angeles Apparel garment factory in South L.A. , infections began in May and surged in June .
But @ @ @ @ @ @ @ outbreak , which has been the largest in the county so far .
A medical professional who became aware of conditions at the plant through a patient notified public health officials on June 19 .
The county immediately began investigating , but by then three people had died .
More than 150 workers tested positive that same week .
By July 10 , when the county alerted the public through a press release detailing the company ’ s “ flagrant ” violations of safety rules , more than 300 workers had tested positive @ @ @ @ @ @ @ why the county ’ s contact tracers had not found the outbreak , Ferrer repeated her staff ’ s findings that many people testing positive are afraid to tell the government who they may have exposed .
She said the factory ’ s managers had put “ their employees and their families greatly at risk ” by not reporting the outbreak until 150 had tested positive .
But Dov Charney , the founder of L.A. Apparel , said he believes the county ’ s contact tracers should have been able to detect the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ doing contact tracing , they would have found out by case 12 , ” he said .
Charney said he had repeatedly arranged for his staff to be tested .
And under the county ’ s system , each of those test results would have been quickly sent to government contact tracers .
“ When they saw elevated numbers , they should have come in right away , ” he said .
“ They didn ’ t show up.
” Charney said he had not tried to hide information about the infections .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ t there initially , ” he said , “ but it took a while to figure out what they wanted.
” He said the county ’ s policy of requiring employers to report outbreaks had been confusing .
First the county told employers that a cluster of five cases should be reported .
More recently , he said , the county had changed the rules , saying that a reportable outbreak was three infections .
“ Their directives are not clear , ” he said , “ and they are buried on a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ find .
Marissa Nuncio , director of the Garment Workers Center , said she began hearing from employees concerned about the infections and unsafe conditions at the factory in May .
By the end of that month , she said , at least one worker was hospitalized .
Nuncio said that some workers testing positive may have been hesitant to disclose their employer to the contact tracers because of concerns of losing their jobs .
The factory ’ s workers also include some who speak Indigenous Spanish dialects , she said , which @ @ @ @ @ @ @ workers more difficult .
Other employees may have not returned the county ’ s calls , she said , because of their immigration status .
“ There can be fear in workers about going to the government if they ’ re undocumented , ” Nuncio said .
Last week , the county announced the creation of a new call center to make it easier for those testing positive to reach the contact tracers , who now work seven days a week from 8 a.m. to 8:30 p.m .
The center ’ s number @ @ @ @ @ @ @ who see unsafe practices at their worksite to report them anonymously by calling 1-888-700-9995 .
“ We are doing the best job we can , ” Ferrer said .
Staff writers Jaclyn Cosgrove , Dorany Pineda and Nathan Fenno contributed to this report .

Workers exit the Farmer John plant, which manufactures the Dodger Dog, in Vernon. 153 of its 1,837 employees tested positive for COVID-19 between March and May.
One by one workers at the Farmer John pork processing plant began getting sick with the coronavirus in March.
Public health officials had created a system to help contain such outbreaks: The county’s fast-expanding army of contact tracers would be notified within 24 hours of people who tested positive for the virus. The county workers would call the patients, make sure they were isolated and determine who else they may have infected.
But the tracers never found the epidemic in the plant, famed for making Dodger Dogs.
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By the time the county began an investigation in May, at least 116 workers were infected in what had become one of the region’s biggest outbreaks.
It’s been a grim pattern since the pandemic began. The county’s contact tracing system has repeatedly failed to find workplace outbreaks before they spread widely, placing an ever-expanding circle of employees, their families and others at risk.
Los Angeles County has long been the California epicenter of coronavirus, but in the last two months, the region has seen rapid spread in workplaces as the economy reopened. That prompted officials to scale back reopenings, a wrenching blow to a city suffering 20% unemployment.
And many experts agree that economic life is not going to get back to normal until contract tracing dramatically improves and officials gain a better sense of how COVID-19 is spreading.
The county’s program, designed for swift identification of those swept up by the pandemic, has been throttled time and again by slow turnaround times for test results from labs, language barriers, uncooperative employers, as well patients who provide inaccurate or incomplete information, most significantly about their workplaces, officials said. Many of those getting sick are low-wage workers who fear financial ruin if they stop working and are too afraid of retaliation to report unsafe work conditions.
The number of people testing positive who tracers have been able to reach has fallen to 68% in recent weeks, down from 75% earlier in the pandemic, according to officials. And only 40% of those people have been willing to disclose who they may have exposed.
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“We believe this is because people are fearful of losing their housing, their jobs and their relationships,” said Los Angeles County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer.
Getting information has been so difficult that the county recently began offering $20 gift cards to people who agree to be interviewed.
To compensate for the system’s weaknesses, the county now requires employers to report outbreaks when three or more workers test positive. But so far officials have done little to enforce that reporting requirement, and some companies have failed to comply. Last week, officials said they would begin imposing financial penalties on employers not following the county directives — but not until the end of August.
The consequences of the contact tracing failures are playing out in real time. This month, county officials blamed workplace outbreaks for playing a major role in the recent surge in infections. They said the county was receiving an average of nearly 3,000 cases of positive test results a day — about twice as many as the month before.
In an interview, Ferrer acknowledged her staff has scrambled to keep up as they race to respond to hundreds of outbreaks across the county from a virus that scientists are only still learning about. She called contact tracing “a valuable tool for slowing the spread of COVID-19” but said it “cannot and should not be expected to singlehandedly stop outbreaks in the workplace.”
Ferrer added that the recent surge of cases had made the work of trying to pinpoint the source of infections even more difficult. “With this many new daily cases, it is not possible to connect all of the dots,” she said.
In some places, like South Korea and Germany, however, aggressive use of contact tracing has helped to corral the coronavirus. American public health departments have used the technique for decades to control outbreaks of measles, tuberculosis and sexually transmitted diseases. And experts across the country have heralded it as a key to ending the pandemic.
The county rapidly boosted its core force of 250 contact tracers to 1,600 by reassigning and retraining other government employees, according to county documents. They included librarians, who are already skilled at interacting with the public, a key to gaining patients’ trust. With infections surging anew, the county is continuing to add tracers, with 900 more in training.
The workers are aided by a county health order in March that required doctors to immediately report each positive test result to the county, with the person’s name, contact information and occupation.
The tracking is essentially a race against the clock. People who contract COVID-19 are most infectious two days before they first experience symptoms to ten days after, according to federal health officials.
“Ideally, contact tracing is initiated within 48 hours,” said Susan Donelan, an infectious disease expert at Stony Brook Medicine in New York, referring generally to how speed is needed to make the technique most effective. “You try to break the chain of transmission.”
Most of the county’s contact tracers work from home. And it’s unclear whether the county is able to monitor the information on employers that the tracers obtain in their interviews of patients for clusters of infections that could be outbreaks. County officials declined to answer questions about whether a new software system installed in early April to help contact tracers record the interview information could be used to search for outbreaks.
Officials described the contact tracing data system that was in place before the upgrade in April as one that was “paper based.”
The failures have many demanding answers.
“I want to know where this is happening,” said Supervisor Janice Hahn in late June. “Where are people getting this? Is it the grocery store? Is it in the churches? Is it the restaurants? Is it at the beaches? Is it riding Metro? Is it at the bars? And that’s more difficult to ascertain. Apparently contact tracing is a difficult procedure to gather all the information you’d like to have.”
Meat-packing workers wait weeks for assistance
The hesitation of patients to reveal their employer to contact tracers is one reason the county did not get an early warning as the coronavirus swept through the Farmer John plant this spring, officials say.
“Many people are very worried about their security at work,” Ferrer said. “It’s just one of the questions that we oftentimes don’t get a complete answer.”
Ferrer also pointed out that her staff had initially decided that officials with the small city of Vernon, where the plant is located, should take responsibility for trying to stop the infections.
The county had learned about the outbreak on April 17, about a month after the first known infections, when Farmer John managers called the city of Vernon to report that six workers had tested positive. Vernon city officials toured the plant and told the county that the company had installed safety measures to stop more infections.
But the cases continued to spread unchecked, according to county documents. And the county’s contact tracers still didn’t find them.
It was another month later, on May 18, that Vernon officials notified the county that the infections had greatly multiplied. By the time county officials sent a press release on May 24 to warn nearby communities, at least 153 workers had tested positive. Dozens of other workers were also infected at eight other nearby food processing plants in Vernon, a small industrial city that has few residents of its own.
Keira Lombardo, an executive at Smithfield Foods, the company that owns the plant, said managers had worked closely with government officials “to help ensure COVID-19 cases among our employees are quickly reported.”
“Everyone with whom they have had close contact ... are notified as soon as possible,” Lombardo said.
The plant’s outbreak has now expanded to 220 workers, according to county documents.
Darryl Blackwell, who works in the plant’s ham-deboning department, where the first employees tested positive, said he and his colleagues initially received little information about the spreading infections. Blackwell said he had wondered why government officials weren’t responding to the outbreak and ensuring employees were safe.
“A lot of people were afraid,” he said. “They fear they will carry it back home to their families.”
Virus spreads with construction of NFL stadium
The county’s contact tracers also failed for months to discover an outbreak at the construction site of SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, where the Rams and Chargers will play.
The first construction worker at the 298-acre stadium site tested positive in late March.
The county health department did not start an investigation until mid-June, and only after Times reporters had asked repeated questions about continuing infections at the site.
The county says that 55 workers have now tested positive, with most of the cases reported in June and July.
Sharon Balter, director of county’s acute communicable disease control program, said the SoFi case showed how contact tracing cannot pinpoint an outbreak at a sprawling work site like the stadium, where 3,000 construction workers are employed by a myriad of subcontractors.
“It’s going to be complicated for us to detect this outbreak until someone reports it to us,” she said.
Chris McFadden, a spokesman for Turner AECOM Hunt, the joint venture overseeing the construction, declined to say whether the joint venture had reported the workers’ infections to the county. Instead he said that the site’s management continued to “meet or exceed” the county’s guidelines.
He said the joint venture has measures in place to keep people safe. He said the site has enhanced cleaning and disinfection and requires workers to keep six feet away from each other. Workers must also have their temperatures checked before entering the site, he said.
If a worker tests positive or has symptoms, McFadden said, “we launch our own investigation to determine who they may have had close contact with.”
Workers die before county learns of outbreak
At the bustling Los Angeles Apparel garment factory in South L.A., infections began in May and surged in June.
But contact tracers didn’t detect the outbreak, which has been the largest in the county so far. A medical professional who became aware of conditions at the plant through a patient notified public health officials on June 19.
The county immediately began investigating, but by then three people had died. More than 150 workers tested positive that same week.
By July 10, when the county alerted the public through a press release detailing the company’s “flagrant” violations of safety rules, more than 300 workers had tested positive and a fourth had died.
Asked why the county’s contact tracers had not found the outbreak, Ferrer repeated her staff’s findings that many people testing positive are afraid to tell the government who they may have exposed.
She said the factory’s managers had put “their employees and their families greatly at risk” by not reporting the outbreak until 150 had tested positive.
But Dov Charney, the founder of L.A. Apparel, said he believes the county’s contact tracers should have been able to detect the outbreak earlier.
“If they were doing contact tracing, they would have found out by case 12,” he said.
Charney said he had repeatedly arranged for his staff to be tested. And under the county’s system, each of those test results would have been quickly sent to government contact tracers.
“When they saw elevated numbers, they should have come in right away,” he said. “They didn’t show up.”
Charney said he had not tried to hide information about the infections.
“Maybe our record keeping wasn’t there initially,” he said, “but it took a while to figure out what they wanted.”
He said the county’s policy of requiring employers to report outbreaks had been confusing. First the county told employers that a cluster of five cases should be reported. More recently, he said, the county had changed the rules, saying that a reportable outbreak was three infections.
“Their directives are not clear,” he said, “and they are buried on a website,” making them hard to find.
Marissa Nuncio, director of the Garment Worker Center, said she began hearing from employees concerned about the infections and unsafe conditions at the factory in May.
By the end of that month, she said, at least one worker was hospitalized.
Nuncio said that some workers testing positive may have been hesitant to disclose their employer to the contact tracers because of concerns of losing their jobs. The factory’s workers also include some who speak Indigenous languages, she said, which could have made communication with the county workers more difficult.
Other employees may have not returned the county’s calls, she said, because of their immigration status. “There can be fear in workers about going to the government if they’re undocumented,” Nuncio said.
Last week, the county announced the creation of a new call center to make it easier for those testing positive to reach the contact tracers, who now work seven days a week from 8 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. The center’s number is 1-833-540-0473.
Ferrer also encouraged employees who see unsafe practices at their worksite to report them anonymously by calling 1-888-700-9995.
“We are doing the best job we can,” Ferrer said.
Staff writers Jaclyn Cosgrove, Dorany Pineda and Nathan Fenno contributed to this report.


latimes--2020-07-31--Column One: From the staggering toll of the pandemic, a shared story of human kindness emerges

Alex Bernard dedicated his life to ministering to people who were suffering .
As a pastor at Desert Reign Church in Downey , he organized food delivery programs , mentored young people and worked as a substance abuse counselor .
He also volunteered as a chaplain at the same hospital where he would eventually die of COVID-19 .
“ His whole life was serving other people , ” said his wife , Blanca .
Bernard is one of more than 9,000 people who have died of COVID-19 in California .
In documenting their stories for “ The Pandemic ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ California ’ s coronavirus victims , The Times has spoken with hundreds of people about their loved ones ’ lives .
Through those difficult conversations , a pattern of human kindness has emerged : Story after story touches on small acts of generosity and great acts of charity — fundraisers , volunteer work , reliable helping hands .
As a whole , the tributes tell the stories of ordinary people with ordinary lives who are remembered most for the extraordinary things , large and small , they did for others .
“ He @ @ @ @ @ @ @ people , ” said Diane Akrie of her husband , , who dedicated much of his life to community service .
Akrie procured millions of dollars in grants for veterans , started a program that provided bicycles for children and spearheaded a fundraiser to build playgrounds in East Oakland .
When he died of COVID-19 on April 4 , he was remembered as a person whose door was always open to someone in need .
John Pope , an obituaries writer for the New Orleans Times-Picayune for more than 40 years , said @ @ @ @ @ @ @ people to reflect on their loved ones ’ good deeds while memorializing them , but that they are often surprised by the comments and notes they receive from others about the extent of that person ’ s impact .
“ You do more good than you know , ” he said .
Pope also explained that historically , the obituary pages of newspapers were reserved for “ boldfaced names , ” or people of notoriety ( a directive he never agreed with ) , but that the pandemic has created a new imperative @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
“ There are steady news reports every day of numbers , ” he said .
“ Numbers ain ’ t people .
You have to put a human face on the suffering.
” To scroll through the stories is to experience a cross section of the state .
Many of the victims were older Californians living in nursing homes and rehabilitation centers where the virus boiled , passing from patient to patient .
Others were front-line workers , those without the luxury of working from home .
Some had huddled with extended @ @ @ @ @ @ @ quickly dwindled .
From grocery store clerks to music teachers to mail carriers , they are remembered not so much for what they accomplished for themselves but for what they did for others .
People like Herbert Segall , 91 , who dedicated more than 20 years of his retirement to weekly volunteer guitar shows at the Jewish Home for the Aging , or Pedro Zuniga , 52 , who took in foster kids even though it broke his heart each time a permanent home was found for them .
Their stories are @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ rising death toll but also of the many , many ways a single life can touch so many others .
“ It ’ s a record of how , often , many people we know did something good for somebody , ” said David Sloane , a professor at USC ’ s Sol Price School of Public Policy and an expert on death and mourning .
“ And that ’ s a really important thing.
” Like the AIDS epidemic before it , the COVID-19 pandemic has reshaped the way we see @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of the people around us , Sloan said .
It may take years for Americans to unlearn social distancing — or simply not flinch when a stranger gets too close .
But reflecting on the generosity of those lost to the virus can act as a reminder of what ’ s actually at stake .
“ We ’ re in a moment where everything has become politicized , ” Sloane said .
“ When you get to the point where we ’ re having fights about masks , this is one way to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ good people who are doing good things for our community.
” People like Dulce Aguilo , 55 , who worked as a caregiver for seniors with dementia , or Larry Robertson , 72 , who spent more than 30 years raising funds for his high school , despite the fact that he never had kids .
Yet Pope was careful to emphasize that the purpose of an obituary is not to canonize ( after all , who among us are saints ? )
but to uncover what makes a person unique .
And @ @ @ @ @ @ @ often emerges .
“ When you ’ re doing an obituary , you ask , ‘ How is this person different from all other persons ?
’ ” he said .
The power of their stories is undeniable , especially when taken as a whole .
Either the virus is stealing exceptionally good people , or , more likely , almost every person has done some exceptionally good things .
It ’ s something the Rev .
Najuma Smith-Pollard , pastor of Word of Encouragement Community Church in Los Angeles , is wrestling @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a changed landscape .
“ Part of what ’ s been the tragedy of this is the notion of bad things happening to good people , ” she said .
At the start of the pandemic , few people knew anyone who had been affected by COVID-19 .
Now , months on , nearly everyone has been touched in some way by the disease , and that ripple of loss has left people struggling to make sense of it all .
“ It ’ s the everyday person down the street , or @ @ @ @ @ @ @ I see all the time at the grocery store , ” Smith-Pollard said of the virus ’ victims .
“ It ’ s proximity , but it ’ s also common ground.
” It ’ s people like Garry Bowie , who led a nonprofit that provided health and mental health services in West Hollywood .
Bowie frequently counseled people who were newly diagnosed with HIV and didn ’ t know where to turn , and he often invited them to stay in his home .
He was 59 when he died April @ @ @ @ @ @ @ sister , , died May 17 , the story was a chance to reflect on the lessons of a life well lived : Hemm was a fierce advocate for people with disabilities , and she fought for legislation such as wheelchair ramps and accessible restrooms .
She adopted a son with cerebral palsy and raised him as a single mother , and was remembered as a person who always went out of her way to include others .
“ She , ” McClellan said , “ was a role model for all of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ aren ’ t just about good deeds or happy memories .
As much as they celebrate the beauty of life — the high school graduation , the trip to Hawaii , the romance rekindled — they are about pain and loss , heartbreak and missed connections , and what many have described as a frightening and lonely death .
It is in those darker moments that the families often grow reflective .
Many said their grief is compounded by their inability to mourn for their loved ones in person , or even lean @ @ @ @ @ @ @ they need that support most .
And , like so many of the death notices that now fill the obituary pages , many of the tributes end with the same bleak reality — a canceled funeral , a memorial postponed to some uncertain future time .
Often , the digital tributes offer the only forum where people can gather and grieve .
“ It ’ s a way of creating a community without being communal , ” Smith-Pollard said .
Although grief is a profoundly personal thing , she said , the ability @ @ @ @ @ @ @ story — and to reflect on his or her acts of kindness , goodness or charity — can be incredibly meaningful .
“ They ’ re part of the greater story of the lives lost in this pandemic , and that ’ s important .
It is cathartic .
And it ’ s healing , it ’ s very healing .
”

Wanda DeSelle was among the thousands in California who died of COVID-19.
Alex Bernard dedicated his life to ministering to people who were suffering. As a pastor at Desert Reign Church in Downey, he organized food delivery programs, mentored young people and worked as a substance abuse counselor. He also volunteered as a chaplain at the same hospital where he would eventually die of COVID-19.
“His whole life was serving other people,” said his wife, Blanca.
Bernard is one of more than 9,000 people who have died of COVID-19 in California. In documenting their stories for “The Pandemic’s Toll,” an ongoing tribute to California’s coronavirus victims, The Times has spoken with hundreds of people about their loved ones’ lives. Through those difficult conversations, a pattern of human kindness has emerged: Story after story touches on small acts of generosity and great acts of charity — fundraisers, volunteer work, reliable helping hands.
Advertisement
As a whole, the tributes tell the stories of ordinary people with ordinary lives who are remembered most for the extraordinary things, large and small, they did for others.
“He did so many things for so many people,” said Diane Akrie of her husband, Costelle Akrie , who dedicated much of his life to community service. Akrie procured millions of dollars in grants for veterans, started a program that provided bicycles for children and spearheaded a fundraiser to build playgrounds in East Oakland. When he died of COVID-19 on April 4, he was remembered as a person whose door was always open to someone in need.
John Pope, an obituaries writer for the New Orleans Times-Picayune for more than 40 years, said that it’s not uncommon for people to reflect on their loved ones’ good deeds while memorializing them, but that they are often surprised by the comments and notes they receive from others about the extent of that person’s impact.
“You do more good than you know,” he said.
Pope also explained that historically, the obituary pages of newspapers were reserved for “boldfaced names,” or people of notoriety (a directive he never agreed with), but that the pandemic has created a new imperative for telling a different kind of story.
“There are steady news reports every day of numbers,” he said. “Numbers ain’t people. You have to put a human face on the suffering.”
Advertisement
To scroll through the stories is to experience a cross section of the state. Many of the victims were older Californians living in nursing homes and rehabilitation centers where the virus boiled, passing from patient to patient.
Others were front-line workers, those without the luxury of working from home. Some had huddled with extended family members as jobs vanished and resources quickly dwindled. From grocery store clerks to music teachers to mail carriers, they are remembered not so much for what they accomplished for themselves but for what they did for others.
People like Herbert Segall, 91, who dedicated more than 20 years of his retirement to weekly volunteer guitar shows at the Jewish Home for the Aging, or Pedro Zuniga, 52, who took in foster kids even though it broke his heart each time a permanent home was found for them.
Their stories are powerful reminders not only of the virus’ rising death toll but also of the many, many ways a single life can touch so many others.
“It’s a record of how, often, many people we know did something good for somebody,” said David Sloane, a professor at USC’s Sol Price School of Public Policy and an expert on death and mourning. “And that’s a really important thing.”
Like the AIDS epidemic before it, the COVID-19 pandemic has reshaped the way we see the outside world and instilled a fear of the people around us, Sloan said. It may take years for Americans to unlearn social distancing — or simply not flinch when a stranger gets too close. But reflecting on the generosity of those lost to the virus can act as a reminder of what’s actually at stake.
“We’re in a moment where everything has become politicized,” Sloane said. “When you get to the point where we’re having fights about masks, this is one way to remind people that we’re losing good people who are doing good things for our community.”
People like Dulce Aguilo, 55, who worked as a caregiver for seniors with dementia, or Larry Robertson, 72, who spent more than 30 years raising funds for his high school, despite the fact that he never had kids.
Yet Pope was careful to emphasize that the purpose of an obituary is not to canonize (after all, who among us are saints?) but to uncover what makes a person unique. And that’s when true humanity most often emerges.
Column One A showcase for compelling storytelling from the Los Angeles Times. More Stories
“When you’re doing an obituary, you ask, ‘How is this person different from all other persons?’” he said.
The power of their stories is undeniable, especially when taken as a whole. Either the virus is stealing exceptionally good people, or, more likely, almost every person has done some exceptionally good things.
It’s something the Rev. Najuma Smith-Pollard, pastor of Word of Encouragement Community Church in Los Angeles, is wrestling with as she leads her congregation across a changed landscape.
“Part of what’s been the tragedy of this is the notion of bad things happening to good people,” she said.
At the start of the pandemic, few people knew anyone who had been affected by COVID-19. Now, months on, nearly everyone has been touched in some way by the disease, and that ripple of loss has left people struggling to make sense of it all.
“It’s the everyday person down the street, or my mailman, or the young lady I see all the time at the grocery store,” Smith-Pollard said of the virus’ victims. “It’s proximity, but it’s also common ground.”
It’s people like Garry Bowie, who led a nonprofit that provided health and mental health services in West Hollywood. Bowie frequently counseled people who were newly diagnosed with HIV and didn’t know where to turn, and he often invited them to stay in his home. He was 59 when he died April 7.
For Susan McClellan, whose sister, Karen Hemm , died May 17, the story was a chance to reflect on the lessons of a life well lived: Hemm was a fierce advocate for people with disabilities, and she fought for legislation such as wheelchair ramps and accessible restrooms. She adopted a son with cerebral palsy and raised him as a single mother, and was remembered as a person who always went out of her way to include others.
“She,” McClellan said, “was a role model for all of us to follow.”
But the stories aren’t just about good deeds or happy memories. As much as they celebrate the beauty of life — the high school graduation, the trip to Hawaii, the romance rekindled — they are about pain and loss, heartbreak and missed connections, and what many have described as a frightening and lonely death.
It is in those darker moments that the families often grow reflective. Many said their grief is compounded by their inability to mourn for their loved ones in person, or even lean on a family member or friend when they need that support most.
And, like so many of the death notices that now fill the obituary pages, many of the tributes end with the same bleak reality — a canceled funeral, a memorial postponed to some uncertain future time. Often, the digital tributes offer the only forum where people can gather and grieve.
“It’s a way of creating a community without being communal,” Smith-Pollard said.
Although grief is a profoundly personal thing, she said, the ability to tell a loved one’s story — and to reflect on his or her acts of kindness, goodness or charity — can be incredibly meaningful.
“They’re part of the greater story of the lives lost in this pandemic, and that’s important. It is cathartic. And it’s healing, it’s very healing.”


latimes--2020-07-31--Coronavirus deaths among L.A. County food processing workers bring dire plea from health officials

With coronavirus deaths now surpassing 9,000 across California , health officials in Los Angeles County are investigating a deadly outbreak at a food processing plant in Commerce and issued another urgent plea for businesses and employees to report COVID-19 cases .
The county is examining the deaths of two employees at Mission Foods Corp. in Commerce .
Mission Foods , a leading distributor of tortillas , chips and salsas sold in grocery stores , was one of three food processing businesses that the county shut down Sunday ; as of Thursday , 49 employees have tested positive .
All three @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Health Officer Dr. Muntu Davis said Thursday that the two Mission employees were believed to have had COVID-19 at the time of their deaths .
The latest surge in COVID-19 that hit California more than a month ago as the economy reopened has been tied in part to low-wage employees becoming ill at work and then spreading the virus in their communities .
Essential workers — many of them Latino — have been hit hard both in urban areas such as Los Angeles and agricultural hamlets in the Central Valley .
The family @ @ @ @ @ @ @ maintenance at Mission Foods and died July 20 after contracting the coronavirus , has criticized the company for failing to disclose to its workers the number of employees who had tested positive .
Alisha Alvarez , the daughter of the 67-year-old deceased worker , said that though her father was notified in May about a positive case , the company did not disclose in the weeks that followed that more workers had gotten sick .
“ He didn ’ t necessarily express too much concern because he didn ’ t know what was @ @ @ @ @ @ @ many cases there were , ” she said .
“ He would say ‘ I ’ m hearing rumblings that so and so has it , ’ but nothing official was ever said to him.
” Messages left with Mission Foods ’ facility in Commerce and its corporate parent were not returned .
During a media briefing Thursday afternoon , Davis stressed the need for businesses to comply with the county ’ s health orders .
That includes reporting any outbreak of three or more cases and alerting all workers who may have @ @ @ @ @ @ @ known case , he said .
“ Businesses have a corporate and moral responsibility to their employees , ” Davis said .
The Department of Public Health is investigating more than 1,000 outbreaks of the virus and is receiving 2,000 to 3,000 weekly complaints about businesses .
Davis encouraged people to come forward with information about businesses that may be in violation of the health order ; complaints to L.A. County can be made by calling ( 888 ) 700-9995 and can be done anonymously .
“ I encourage all members of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Davis said .
“ Actions of individual businesses and communities have an effect on each and every one of us.
” Latinos in California are being infected and dying of the coronavirus at rates significantly higher than white residents .
Though Latinos — the state ’ s largest ethnic group — make up 39 % of California ’ s population , they make up 56 % of all coronavirus cases and 46 % of deaths .
Some of the state ’ s largest outbreaks have occurred at factories , food processing plants and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in cities and in agricultural communities .
The disparity is noticeable among Latino residents of all age ranges , including those who are working age .
Of Californians ages 50 to 64 , 65 % of the coronavirus deaths have occurred among Latinos , even though Latinos make up only 32 % of Californians in this age range .
And among Californians ages 35 to 49 , Latinos made up 78 % of coronavirus-related deaths , even though Latinos in that age range make up just 42 % of the population .
And @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 35 , Latinos represent 62 % of coronavirus deaths , despite making up 45 % of the state ’ s population in that age group .
L.A. County ’ s largest outbreak , which infected at least 387 people and resulted in four deaths , forced the temporary closure of the garment factory Los Angeles Apparel , in South L.A .
The other two food processing businesses ordered shut this week were S & S Foods of Azusa , which produces meat and other food products for large-scale food service companies , and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ which makes sauces and other condiments for fast-food restaurants including McDonald ’ s .
S & S Foods now has a total of at least 60 cases and Golden State Foods at least 47 , according to the county .
The companies did not notify the county once they had at least three coronavirus cases , said Barbara Ferrer , L.A. County ’ s director of public health , and the county is asking for better infection control protocols at all three sites .
Food processing facilities and sites that house farmworkers have @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s coronavirus outbreaks .
In the Central Valley , hundreds of workers have been infected at Ruiz Foods , a frozen-food packager in Tulare County , and Central Valley Meat Co. , a meatpacking facility in Kings County .
In Ventura County , hundreds of agricultural workers have tested positive , fueled in part by an outbreak at a housing complex that provides agricultural employers with temporary lodging for their workers .
Outbreaks are also a problem across the agricultural heart of California : the Imperial Valley east of San Diego , the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Salinas Valley ; and the wine country in Sonoma , Napa , Solano , Mendocino and Lake counties .
New coronavirus deaths have increased significantly in the eight-county San Joaquin Valley , a part of the Central Valley that has been hit hard in recent weeks and which has a higher percentage of Latino residents than statewide .
For the seven-day period that ended Wednesday , 142 COVID-19 deaths were reported ; that ’ s much worse than the comparable period spanning Memorial Day , when 32 deaths were tallied .
Davis , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ implored places of worship to host only outdoor services and refrain from holding indoor events , a restriction ordered by Gov .
Gavin Newsom on July 13 in the hardest-hit counties , including L.A. County .
“ Unfortunately , we ’ ve heard reports of some faith organizations operating outside of those health and safety requirements , ” Davis said .
L.A. County has tallied at least 4,559 COVID-19 deaths , and in the last week has averaged about 42 new deaths every day .
Times staff writers Jaclyn Cosgrove , Maya Lau @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .

Colleen Shalby, Leila Miller, Rong-Gong Lin II

Elizabeth McKinnon, a nurse with the San Bernardino County Health Department, explains how to self-swab for a COVID-19 test in Ontario last week.
With coronavirus deaths now surpassing 9,000 across California, health officials in Los Angeles County are investigating a deadly outbreak at a food processing plant in Commerce and issued another urgent plea for businesses and employees to report COVID-19 cases.
The county is examining the deaths of two employees at Mission Foods Corp. in Commerce.
Mission Foods, a leading distributor of tortillas, chips and salsas sold in grocery stores, was one of three food processing businesses that the county shut down Sunday; as of Thursday, 49 employees have tested positive. All three businesses have since reopened.
L.A. County Health Officer Dr. Muntu Davis said Thursday that the two Mission employees were believed to have had COVID-19 at the time of their deaths.
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The latest surge in COVID-19 that hit California more than a month ago as the economy reopened has been tied in part to low-wage employees becoming ill at work and then spreading the virus in their communities. Essential workers — many of them Latino — have been hit hard both in urban areas such as Los Angeles and agricultural hamlets in the Central Valley.
The family of Jose Roberto Alvarez, who oversaw maintenance at Mission Foods and died July 20 after contracting the coronavirus, has criticized the company for failing to disclose to its workers the number of employees who had tested positive.
Alisha Alvarez, the daughter of the 67-year-old deceased worker, said that though her father was notified in May about a positive case, the company did not disclose in the weeks that followed that more workers had gotten sick.
“He didn’t necessarily express too much concern because he didn’t know what was going on behind the scenes and how many cases there were,” she said. “He would say ‘I’m hearing rumblings that so and so has it,’ but nothing official was ever said to him.”
In a statement, Mission Foods said it has focused intensely on worker safety, including temperature checks and other workplace safety measures, informing government officials to COVID-19 cases and giving leaves of absences to workers at high risk.
“During this brief closure period, we worked closely with the Department of Public Health to review and explain our comprehensive COVID-19 protocols and procedures to protect the health and safety of our employees. We also provided all required information about cases among our workforce that we are aware of. The number of reported cases is cumulative since early March. We continue to collaborate on a daily basis with the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health to make sure we are in full compliance with all requirements and safety protocols and to do our part in helping contain the spread of COVID-19 in the community,” the company said in the statement.
During a media briefing Thursday afternoon, Davis stressed the need for businesses to comply with the county’s health orders. That includes reporting any outbreak of three or more cases and alerting all workers who may have been exposed to a person with a known case, he said.
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“Businesses have a corporate and moral responsibility to their employees,” Davis said.
The Department of Public Health is investigating more than 1,000 outbreaks of the virus and is receiving 2,000 to 3,000 weekly complaints about businesses. Davis encouraged people to come forward with information about businesses that may be in violation of the health order; complaints to L.A. County can be made by calling (888) 700-9995 and can be done anonymously.
“I encourage all members of the public to report suspected outbreaks,” Davis said. “Actions of individual businesses and communities have an effect on each and every one of us.”
Latinos in California are being infected and dying of the coronavirus at rates significantly higher than white residents. Though Latinos — the state’s largest ethnic group — make up 39% of California’s population, they make up 56% of all coronavirus cases and 46% of deaths. Some of the state’s largest outbreaks have occurred at factories, food processing plants and housing complexes for agricultural workers, both in cities and in agricultural communities.
The disparity is noticeable among Latino residents of all age ranges, including those who are working age.
Of Californians ages 50 to 64, 65% of the coronavirus deaths have occurred among Latinos, even though Latinos make up only 32% of Californians in this age range.
And among Californians ages 35 to 49, Latinos made up 78% of coronavirus-related deaths, even though Latinos in that age range make up just 42% of the population. And for Californian adults under the age of 35, Latinos represent 62% of coronavirus deaths, despite making up 45% of the state’s population in that age group.
L.A. County’s largest outbreak, which infected at least 387 people and resulted in four deaths, forced the temporary closure of the garment factory Los Angeles Apparel, in South L.A.
The other two food processing businesses ordered shut this week were S&S Foods of Azusa, which produces meat and other food products for large-scale food service companies, and Golden State Foods Corp. of Industry, which makes sauces and other condiments for fast-food restaurants including McDonald’s.
S&S Foods now has a total of at least 60 cases and Golden State Foods at least 47, according to the county.
The companies did not notify the county once they had at least three coronavirus cases, said Barbara Ferrer, L.A. County’s director of public health, and the county is asking for better infection control protocols at all three sites.
Food processing facilities and sites that house farmworkers have been a significant contributor to California’s coronavirus outbreaks.
In the Central Valley, hundreds of workers have been infected at Ruiz Foods, a frozen-food packager in Tulare County, and Central Valley Meat Co., a meatpacking facility in Kings County.
In Ventura County, hundreds of agricultural workers have tested positive, fueled in part by an outbreak at a housing complex that provides agricultural employers with temporary lodging for their workers.
Outbreaks are also a problem across the agricultural heart of California: the Imperial Valley east of San Diego, the Coachella Valley of Riverside County, the Salinas Valley; and the wine country in Sonoma, Napa, Solano, Mendocino and Lake counties.
New coronavirus deaths have increased significantly in the eight-county San Joaquin Valley, a part of the Central Valley that has been hit hard in recent weeks and which has a higher percentage of Latino residents than statewide. For the seven-day period that ended Wednesday, 142 COVID-19 deaths were reported; that’s much worse than the comparable period spanning Memorial Day, when 32 deaths were tallied.
Davis, the L.A. County health officer, also implored places of worship to host only outdoor services and refrain from holding indoor events, a restriction ordered by Gov. Gavin Newsom on July 13 in the hardest-hit counties, including L.A. County.
“Unfortunately, we’ve heard reports of some faith organizations operating outside of those health and safety requirements,” Davis said.
L.A. County has tallied at least 4,559 COVID-19 deaths, and in the last week has averaged about 42 new deaths every day.
Times staff writers Jaclyn Cosgrove, Maya Lau and Iris Lee contributed to this report.


latimes--2020-07-31--An inmate tested positive for COVID-19. Prison staff housed him with uninfected inmates, he says

Midway through explaining how an inmate who ’ d tested positive for COVID-19 had been placed in his unit at Chuckawalla Valley State Prison , Gary Croom paused .
“ Here , ” he told a reporter .
“ I ’ m going to give him the phone.
” Saddled with guilt , worried he might touch off a resurgence of the disease that swept through the prison on the eastern edge of Riverside County a month ago , Alejandro Cantu took the phone .
Last week , Cantu explained , he broke his leg playing basketball on the yard @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Memorial Hospital in Indio .
Cantu , 34 , had first tested positive for COVID-19 , the disease caused by the novel coronavirus , about a month earlier .
Before undergoing surgery , he was tested again .
The results came back five days ago , he said : still positive .
After the surgery , Cantu was brought back to Chuckawalla on Monday , he said .
Despite his diagnosis , the prison staff placed him in a pod — a small , enclosed space where inmates bunk a few feet apart @ @ @ @ @ @ @ none of them infected , Cantu said .
“ They brought him in , ” Croom , his bunk mate , recalled , “ and he said , ‘ You guys don ’ t have COVID ?
’ ” Cantu said he told a sergeant he ’ d recently tested positive for COVID-19 , but the sergeant brushed it off , saying that because he ’ d first tested positive for the disease a month ago , he could no longer transmit the disease .
The sergeant , Cantu said , essentially told @ @ @ @ @ @ @ big deal.
” Whether or not he is contagious , Cantu questioned why he wasn ’ t placed in quarantine or at least in a building that houses infected inmates .
A spokeswoman for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation didn ’ t immediately respond to a request for comment .
His bunk mates are terrified of him , and Cantu worries he might trigger a second outbreak of COVID-19 , which raced through Chuckawalla in June , infecting nearly 1,000 inmates — 44 % of the prison ’ s population — @ @ @ @ @ @ @ one of the worst outbreaks to hit the California prison system .
“ I ’ m concerned about someone getting really sick , ” he said .
“ I ’ m concerned about someone dying.
” As of Thursday , 1,607 inmates in the California prison system were infected with COVID-19 .
To free up space in the state ’ s chronically overcrowded prisons , Ralph Diaz , the prison system ’ s secretary , announced earlier this month that 8,000 additional inmates would be released early .
From the onset of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ prison system has overseen “ one of the largest reductions in state prison population in recent history , ” a spokesperson said in a daily update Thursday evening .
By suspending intake from jails and hastening the releases of some 10,000 inmates , the prison system has cut the number of people in its custody by 16,000 .
Its incarcerated population is below 100,000 people for the first time since 1990 , the update said .
Staff have managed to rein in the outbreak at Chuckawalla ; as of Thursday , only four @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the prison recorded just three new cases in the last two weeks , according to figures compiled by the state prison system .
Yet given the cramped confines at Chuckawalla , which was designed to house 1,738 inmates but currently holds 2,119 , some in the lockup worry an outbreak could flare up at any time .
“ Just like a forest fire in a dry forest , it would burn right through here , ” Robert McBride , an inmate , said in a phone interview .
“ You can ’ t @ @ @ @ @ @ @ You ’ re sleeping mouth wide open , snoring , three feet away from the next bunk.
” McBride , 59 , has spent nearly 13 years in prison for robbery .
His release date is in December , and the closer that date comes , the more he fears catching COVID-19 , he said .
“ I ’ m so , so close to going home right now , ” he said .
McBride lives in the same building as Cantu , whose placement in their largely COVID-free building has caused a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
McBride criticized the prison administration ’ s handling of Cantu ’ s situation , saying the episode was emblematic of an indifference that has pervaded the prison ’ s response to the pandemic .
“ I ’ m not privy to every directive they have to answer to , ” he said , “ but it all just seems so backward to me .
”

Despite testing positive for COVID-19, an inmate at Chuckawalla Valley State Prison said he was placed in a pod that houses 11 other men, none of them infected.
Midway through explaining how an inmate who’d tested positive for COVID-19 had been placed in his unit at Chuckawalla Valley State Prison, Gary Croom paused.
“Here,” he told a reporter. “I’m going to give him the phone.”
Saddled with guilt, worried he might touch off a resurgence of the disease that swept through the prison on the eastern edge of Riverside County a month ago, Alejandro Cantu took the phone.
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Last week, Cantu explained, he broke his leg playing basketball on the yard and was taken to John F. Kennedy Memorial Hospital in Indio.
Cantu, 34, had first tested positive for COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, about a month earlier. Before undergoing surgery, he was tested again. The results came back five days ago, he said: still positive. He said that after his surgery, prison staff placed him in a pod — a small, enclosed space where inmates bunk a few feet apart — that houses 11 other men, none of them infected,
Dana Simas, a spokeswoman for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, said Cantu’s account was “false and unsubstantiated.” After receiving questions about it from The Times on Thursday, prison officials investigated his allegations and found them to be untrue, she said. The chief medical officer at Chuckawalla has met with inmates in his unit and “assured them no COVID-19 positive inmates had been placed there,” she added.
“Our department is working hard to fight the spread of COVID-19 in the state’s prisons, and we have taken concrete actions to ensure the safety and wellness of our population and staff,” Simas said in a statement Friday. “Any allegation to the contrary is categorically false.”
Whether or not he is contagious, Cantu questioned why he wasn’t placed in quarantine or at least in a building that houses infected inmates.
His bunkmates are terrified of him, and Cantu said he worries he might trigger a second outbreak of COVID-19, which raced through Chuckawalla in June, infecting nearly 1,000 inmates — 44% of the prison’s population — in a three-week span. It was one of the worst outbreaks to hit the California prison system.
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“I’m concerned about someone getting really sick,” he said. “I’m concerned about someone dying.”
As of Thursday, 1,607 inmates in the California prison system were infected with COVID-19. To free up space in the state’s chronically overcrowded prisons, Ralph Diaz, the prison system’s secretary, announced this month that 8,000 additional inmates would be released early.
From the onset of the pandemic in March through July, the prison system has overseen “one of the largest reductions in state prison population in recent history,” a spokesperson said in a daily update Thursday evening. By suspending intake from jails and hastening the releases of some 10,000 inmates, the prison system has cut the number of people in its custody by 16,000. Its incarcerated population is below 100,000 people for the first time since 1990, the update said.
Staff have managed to rein in the outbreak at Chuckawalla; as of Friday, only one inmate was infected with COVID-19, and the prison recorded just three new cases in the last two weeks, according to figures compiled by the state prison system.
Yet given the cramped confines at Chuckawalla, which was designed to house 1,738 inmates but currently holds 2,119, some in the lockup worry an outbreak could flare up at any time.
“Just like a forest fire in a dry forest, it would burn right through here,” Robert McBride, an inmate, said in a phone interview. “You can’t get away from people in here. You’re sleeping mouth wide open, snoring, three feet away from the next bunk.”
McBride, 59, has spent nearly 13 years in prison for robbery. His release date is in December, and the closer that date comes, the more he fears catching COVID-19, he said.
“I’m so, so close to going home right now,” he said.


latimes--2020-07-31--Orange County Register editor killed in alleged street racing crash

A longtime editor for the Orange County Register was killed Thursday in what authorities believe was a street racing crash , according to the Register and Santa Ana police .
Police responded to the crash at about 11:45 a.m. at Bristol Street and Santa Clara Avenue , where a BMW slammed into Eugene Harbrecht ’ s Ford pickup as he was making a left turn .
The driver of the BMW and another vehicle were allegedly street racing on Bristol Street , police said .
Witnesses said the pickup burst into flames and they tried helping Harbrecht , who was @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ We knew it was intense after the first bang , ” witness Guillermo Velazquez told KTLA News .
“ That ’ s when we were able to tell there was a vehicle rolling , because we heard the consistent impact.
” Harbrecht , 67 , was pronounced dead at a hospital and the driver of the BMW was hospitalized .
The second driver in the alleged street race fled the scene , but was later found in the neighborhood and taken into custody , Santa Ana police said .
According to the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Santa Ana resident who had worked for the newspaper since 1984 .
Most recently , he was the national and international news editor for the greater Southern California News Group .
“ Gene was one of our best and wisest editors , a friend and colleague whose fierce intelligence and rigorous attention to detail made us all better , ” Southern California News Group executive editor Frank Pine said in the Orange County Register .
“ He was passionate about journalism and carried out his work in service to our readers .
We @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and will miss him dearly .
”

A longtime editor for the Orange County Register was killed Thursday in what authorities believe was a street racing crash, according to the Register and Santa Ana police.
Police responded to the crash at about 11:45 a.m. at Bristol Street and Santa Clara Avenue, where a BMW slammed into Eugene Harbrecht’s Ford pickup as he was making a left turn.
The driver of the BMW and another vehicle were allegedly street racing on Bristol Street, police said. Witnesses said the pickup burst into flames and they tried helping Harbrecht, who was unconscious, out of the car.
“We knew it was intense after the first bang,” witness Guillermo Velazquez told KTLA News. “That’s when we were able to tell there was a vehicle rolling, because we heard the consistent impact.”
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Harbrecht, 67, was pronounced dead at a hospital and the driver of the BMW was hospitalized. The second driver in the alleged street race fled the scene, but was later found in the neighborhood and taken into custody, Santa Ana police said.
According to the Orange County Register, Harbrecht was a Santa Ana resident who had worked for the newspaper since 1984. Most recently, he was the national and international news editor for the greater Southern California News Group.
“Gene was one of our best and wisest editors, a friend and colleague whose fierce intelligence and rigorous attention to detail made us all better,” Southern California News Group executive editor Frank Pine said in the Orange County Register. “He was passionate about journalism and carried out his work in service to our readers. We were lucky to have him among us and will miss him dearly.”
#Update Major Injury Traffic Collision involving live wires & fire. Stay clear of the area. Streets will remain close until further notice #SAPDTraffic #SAPDPIO #onscene pic.twitter.com/B8Kyc3hHUq — SantaAnaPD (@SantaAnaPD) July 30, 2020
City News Service contributed to this report.


latimes--2020-07-31--La Luz del Mundo church leader faces new rape, extortion charges

The state ’ s attorney general has filed new charges against the leader of the Mexico-based La Luz del Mundo megachurch , who has been accused of raping children under the guise of his leadership .
The charges , filed Thursday in Los Angeles County Superior Court , come four months after Naason Joaquin Garcia ’ s criminal case was dropped by a California appeals court on procedural grounds .
California Atty .
Gen. Xavier Becerra refiled the charges and added at least six additional felony charges each against Garcia , 51 , and one of his co-defendants , Alondra @ @ @ @ @ @ @ includes 36 felony charges for crimes that allegedly occurred between June 2015 and April 2018 .
Also facing charges are Garcia ’ s assistant , 25-year-old Susana Medina Oaxaca , who was released after posting bail , and Azalea Rangel Melendez , whom authorities have been unable to locate .
Garcia ’ s attorney , Alan Jackson , could not be reached for comment , but Garcia has denied any wrongdoing .
The church leader , known among La Luz del Mundo ’ s members as the “ apostle ” of Jesus Christ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 2019 The appeals court ruled in April that because Garcia ’ s preliminary hearing was not held in a timely manner and he did not waive his right to one after an amended complaint , the criminal complaint should be dismissed .
The complaint included more than two dozen felony charges ranging from human trafficking and production of child pornography to forcible rape of a minor .
“ This is a long overdue recognition that the government has violated Mr. Garcia ’ s constitutional right to a speedy trial and reasonable bond , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a statement following the appeals court decision .
“ In their zeal to secure a conviction at any cost , the attorney general has sought to strip Mr. Garcia of his freedom without due process by locking him up without bail on the basis of unsubstantiated accusations by unnamed accusers and by denying him his day in court.
“ Ocampo had been accused of being the “ groomer and recruiter ” of girls who were allegedly sexually assaulted by Garcia .
The criminal complaint outlines instances in which Ocampo allegedly asked girls to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to send to Garcia , whom she called “ the servant of God.
” One one occasion between September 2017 and January 2018 , Ocampo took three girls to an office building and “ provided them with schoolgirl outfits , directed them to touch their own breasts and buttocks , as well as each other ’ s , and took photos of them doing so , ” the complaint alleges .
During another instance in 2017 , she allegedly told a group of girls that if they went against the desires of “ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ against God , according to the complaint .
A month later , she allegedly directed the girls to perform “ flirty ” dances for Garcia “ wearing as little clothing as possible , ” the complaint states .
In a 2019 hearing , a witness testified that Garcia possessed pornography that depicted him having intercourse with a woman while she performed oral sex on a boy .
The video also showed four females “ of a very young age ” performing oral sex on one another .
In February , a former member @ @ @ @ @ @ @ lawsuit against the church and Garcia alleging he and other high-ranking church members engaged in human trafficking , racketeering , sexual battery and forced labor , among other charges .
Garcia is being held on $ 50-million bail and Ocampo is being held on $ 25-million bail .
The defendants are scheduled to appear in court Aug. 4 , according to a spokesperson for the attorney general ’ s office .

The new charges come four months after Naason Joaquin Garcia’s criminal case was dropped by a California appeals court on procedural grounds.
The state’s attorney general has filed new charges against the leader of the Mexico-based La Luz del Mundo megachurch, who has been accused of raping children under the guise of his leadership.
The charges, filed Thursday in Los Angeles County Superior Court, come four months after Naason Joaquin Garcia’s criminal case was dropped by a California appeals court on procedural grounds.
California Atty. Gen. Xavier Becerra refiled the charges and added at least six additional felony charges each against Garcia, 51, and one of his co-defendants, Alondra Ocampo, 37.
The new complaint includes 36 felony charges for crimes that allegedly occurred between June 2015 and April 2018.
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Also facing charges are Garcia’s assistant, 25-year-old Susana Medina Oaxaca, who was released after posting bail, and Azalea Rangel Melendez, whom authorities have been unable to locate.
Garcia’s attorney, Alan Jackson, could not be reached for comment, but Garcia has denied any wrongdoing.
The church leader, known among La Luz del Mundo’s members as the “apostle” of Jesus Christ, has been in custody since June 2019.
The appeals court ruled in April that because Garcia’s preliminary hearing was not held in a timely manner and he did not waive his right to one after an amended complaint, the criminal complaint should be dismissed. The complaint included more than two dozen felony charges ranging from human trafficking and production of child pornography to forcible rape of a minor.
“This is a long overdue recognition that the government has violated Mr. Garcia’s constitutional right to a speedy trial and reasonable bond,” Garcia’s attorney said in a statement following the appeals court decision. “In their zeal to secure a conviction at any cost, the attorney general has sought to strip Mr. Garcia of his freedom without due process by locking him up without bail on the basis of unsubstantiated accusations by unnamed accusers and by denying him his day in court.“
Ocampo had been accused of being the “groomer and recruiter” of girls who were allegedly sexually assaulted by Garcia.
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The criminal complaint outlines instances in which Ocampo allegedly asked girls to undress and take photographs of their genitals to send to Garcia, whom she called “the servant of God.”
One one occasion between September 2017 and January 2018, Ocampo took three girls to an office building and “provided them with schoolgirl outfits, directed them to touch their own breasts and buttocks, as well as each other’s, and took photos of them doing so,” the complaint alleges.
During another instance in 2017, she allegedly told a group of girls that if they went against the desires of “the apostle,” they were going against God, according to the complaint. A month later, she allegedly directed the girls to perform “flirty” dances for Garcia “wearing as little clothing as possible,” the complaint states.
In a 2019 hearing, a witness testified that Garcia possessed pornography that depicted him having intercourse with a woman while she performed oral sex on a boy. The video also showed four females “of a very young age” performing oral sex on one another.
In February, a former member of La Luz del Mundo filed a lawsuit against the church and Garcia alleging he and other high-ranking church members engaged in human trafficking, racketeering, sexual battery and forced labor, among other charges.
Garcia is being held on $50-million bail and Ocampo is being held on $25-million bail. The defendants are scheduled to appear in court Aug. 4, according to a spokesperson for the attorney general’s office.
Times staff writer Leila Miller contributed to this report.