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The Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office said Thursday that a private contract tutor for a jailed youth was charged with multiple felony charges allegedly smuggling controlled substances into the Rospadrino juvenile hall in Downey.
Alejandro Lopez, a 21-year-old employee of the nonprofit Student Nest, pleaded not guilty on Tuesday after being accused of distributing around 170 alprazolam pills, commonly known as Xanax, to the Young Hall of Fame, with the help of 18-year-old Ward Orlando Quevas.
“Our juvenile facilities must remain a safe, drug-free environment where young people have a real opportunity for rehabilitation,” District Attorney Nathan Hochman said in a statement. “Everyone who has participated in drug smuggling at these facilities is accountable.”
According to Hochman, Los Angeles County Probation Department investigators found Lopez on Monday handed Quebus a bundle wrapped in electrical tape containing Xanax pills.
County Probation Office officials said that officials responded to reports of suspected overdose and possible exposure to unknown substances on Wednesday, with at least one person being loaded into an ambulance and others being assessed at the facility.
Lopez was charged with counting felony where each person brings or sends controlled substances to a juvenile hall or camp or possesses them for the sale of designated controlled substances. He was released from prison after the court rejected a request to set the district attorney’s bail at $25,000.
Quebus faced one of the felony of illegal possession for the sale of a designated controlled substance, but was arrested at a later date.
Additionally, in addition to Quebus, Lopez is allegedly led others to join the crime committee.
If convicted, Lopez and Quebus could face up to three years in state prisons.
This is not the first time drug smuggling charges have been filed in a combat detention facility. Los Angeles County Deputy Probation Officer Michael Solis was charged last month after being accused of conspiring to bring Xanax to Barry J. Nidolph Juvenile Hall in Sylmer in 2023.
Since opening in 2023, Los Padrinos has been repeatedly arising from two other facilities deemed unsuitable for youth detention.
It was announced in May that Downey’s facility would be closed after LA County submitted its closure plan. The juvenile facility is deemed incompatible with multiple opportunities by state regulators and continues to operate under inappropriate declarations.
The judge approved a plan for the probation department that would reduce the number of youths institutionalized. This has many issues from the short staff, along with concerns about detainees who are not transported to rank or medical appointments.
Additionally, 30 county probation officers have committed crimes in criminal charges as a result of the so-called “Battle of the Gladiators.”
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