SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY MAY SUE SAN FRANCISCO OVER 'DUMPING' OF CONVICTS

Area Officials Are Angry That the City Has Sent Young
Illegal-Immigrant Offenders to Inland Empire Group Homes. The City
Concedes Shortcomings in Notifying Authorities in the Homes' Localities.

San Bernardino County officials vowed Thursday not to become a
dumping ground for San Francisco criminals, saying they may sue that
city for exporting juvenile offenders to local group homes.

"The county is exploring every option to recoup all our police
expenses," said county Supervisor Gary Ovitt. "This lunacy needs to stop now."

Ovitt, joined by other officials at a news conference in San
Bernardino, expressed anger over recent revelations that San
Francisco sent illegal immigrant cocaine dealers from Honduras to
group homes in Yucaipa.

Eight juveniles walked away from the homes. One was recaptured in San
Francisco this week, and the others remain at large.

Officials in San Francisco acknowledged sending the recent group of
Hondurans and said others had been transported down in the past. They
are still trying to determine exactly how many.

"San Francisco has a legal and moral obligation to notify us, and
they didn't," said Michelle Scray, assistant chief probation officer
for San Bernardino County. "We have requested a list from San
Francisco of any other offenders placed in our county. They assured
us they would not be sending any more."

For years, San Francisco, a sanctuary city since 1989, has been
shielding juvenile offenders from federal authorities, either
escorting them to their home countries at city expense or
transporting them to group homes, including locations in San Bernardino County.

Mayor Gavin Newsom reversed the policy Wednesday saying minors in the
country illegally who commit crimes will be turned over to
immigration authorities.

The city has spent $2.3 million to house 162 illegal immigrant youths
since 2005, and an additional $38,955 to fly juvenile offenders to
Honduras, American Samoa and Mexico over the last two years, the mayor said.

"In no uncertain terms, the mayor has directed city officials to stop
sending undocumented immigrants to other counties," said Nathan
Ballard, Newsom's communications director, via e-mail.

Public Defender Jeff Adachi said there are currently no undocumented
juveniles from San Francisco in San Bernardino County.

Of the 70 such offenders his office has represented since February
2007, seven have been transported back to their home countries. The
other 63 have gone to group homes, foster homes or other facilities
- -- most in the Bay Area -- and none have been rearrested, he said.

If an offender from San Francisco does escape from a group home or
other facility, the Juvenile Court is notified and issues a statewide
warrant for the person's arrest, Adachi said.

Warrants were issued for the San Bernardino County escapees.

William Siffermann, chief of San Francisco's Juvenile Probation
Department, acknowledged serious shortcomings in notifying other localities.

"We are aware of state requirements and seek to conform in all
matters. We certainly recognize our deficiency in this area," he
said. "We've got kids sitting in our placements in San Francisco that
come from other counties, and we haven't received notice. It's no
excuse. In practice we recognize our need to improve."

He denied that San Bernardino County was a dumping ground for San
Francisco problems.

"We sought this venue based on our belief in its rehabilitative value
to the dispositional orders entered by the court," he said.

San Bernardino County Sheriff's Capt. Bart Gray said his station had
received "hundreds" of calls for service at the nine group homes in
Yucaipa, including many at Douglas House, where some of the Hondurans
were living.

From Jan. 1 to June 30, he received 229 calls from the homes about
issues as varied as arson and juveniles running away. In one case,
two teenagers from a group home allegedly carjacked and kidnapped a
Stater Bros. employee before dumping him in Los Angeles. He survived
the attack.

The Honduran runaways weren't the first San Francisco drug dealers at
Douglas House, he said.

Last year a school resource officer tipped off police to four young
men from Douglas House who had enrolled in a local school and had a
history of cocaine dealing.

"It was the exact same situation we just had," Gray said. "Ten days
after they arrived, they were gone."

In fact, 60% to 70% of Yucaipa's group home residents are from
outside the county, Gray said.

Group homes and halfway houses have proliferated in the Inland
Empire, where real estate is often cheaper than in other counties.
Rialto alone has 44 such homes.

"We cannot refuse a group home, and we cannot shut them down," said
Mike Story, director of development services in Rialto. "If a home is
licensed as a group home, they tell us where it is but not who is in
it. That's as much as we know."

The facilities are governed by a complex web of regulations and
overseen by the Community Care Licensing Division of the California
Department of Social Services. Calls to its Sacramento office were
not returned Thursday.

San Bernardino County Dist. Atty. Michael Ramos said his office has
the highest criminal caseload in the state and he doesn't need any more.

"They are dumping people here without telling us who, what, when and
where," he said. "Historically, San Bernardino County was a dumping
ground, but in the last few years that has not been the case. I don't
want to go back to the past."

Douglas House is owned by Silverlake Youth Services, which runs other
homes in the Inland Empire. Scray, of county Probation, said she has
had "issues" with Silverlake but would not elaborate.

Zachary Fox, Silverlake chief executive officer and an ordained
minister, did not return calls seeking comment.