More than a year after California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta announced indictments against 30 probation officers accused of coordinating or allowing so-called “gladiator fights” between youths inside L.A. County juvenile halls, nearly half of the criminal cases being dropped.
In recent weeks, state prosecutors dismissed charges against at least 10 of the 30 officers from the initial indictment, according to court documents and interviews with defense attorneys. An additional four officers entered plea agreements Tuesday that will end with their cases being dismissed after they complete community service.
The officers’ attorneys and probation union officials said the prosecution was an excessive reaction to a video — first published by The Times in 2024 — that showed several youths standing by while officers beat a fellow inmate at Los Padrinos Juvenile Hall in Downey.
“I believe the case was a reactionary case that was overly charged,” said attorney Adam Kopekin, who represents the officer whose case was dismissed. “They actually joined a group of innocent probation officers who were following instructions and doing their jobs.”
The two officers at the center of the Los Padrino fight video — identified in court filings as Taneha Brooks and Shawn Smiles — have been charged with multiple counts of child abuse and conspiracy to commit intentional cruelty to children. In the security video, both officers can be seen laughing and shaking hands with the attackers. The 17-year-old boy seen in the video being attacked suffered a broken nose and a concussion, according to a summary of grand jury testimony included in a motion filed in the case.
Brooks has repeatedly declined to speak to Times reporters. She appeared in court on Tuesday in support of other officers. E-mails sent to his lawyer and the lawyer representing Smiles were not immediately returned.
LA County probation officer Taneha Brooks, listed as the top defendant in the “Gladiator Fight” case, leaves the Clara Foltzridge Criminal Justice Center on Tuesday, April 7, 2026 in Los Angeles, CA. Brooks has been accused of organizing and allowing several fights between juveniles in LA County detention centers, leading to a California Department of Justice investigation. His case will be heard in May.
(Gennaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)
Bonta said when announcing the charges last year that his office had identified 69 other fighting incidents involving about 150 youth ages 12 to 18. 30 officers were convicted on 71 counts of conspiracy, battery and child abuse.
But according to defense motions and video reviewed by The Times, many of those other fights differed from the 2023 video in that they lasted only a few seconds, resulted in minimal injuries and ended after intervention by probation officers.
The Times confirmed that state prosecutors dismissed charges against 10 officers in recent weeks through interviews with lawyers and two law enforcement sources who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the ongoing investigation.
Court documents reviewed by the Times showed that some cases were dismissed “in the interest of justice” after motions filed by the state attorney general’s office. Those officers’ arrest records were ordered sealed, documents show.
In a statement Tuesday, the attorney general’s office said it adjusts its dealings with defendants “based on our continued consideration of all evidence developed before, during, and after the initiation of criminal charges.”
“Certain defendants were appropriately dismissed from the case based on the law applicable to their factual circumstances,” the statement said.
Amid the dismissals and plea deals, Bonta’s critics questioned his fitness to take over the probation department to implement needed reforms, a move the attorney general has been seeking court permission for since last year.
“What we’re seeing raises real questions about the rush to make decisions that have already had the effect of tarnishing the entire profession without thoroughly examining the facts,” Curtis Chambers, president of the union representing rank-and-file probation officers, said in a statement. “When cases begin to fall apart after being so publicly pursued, it is fair to ask whether the process was flawed from the beginning.”
Motions to dismiss charges in the case portray some officers as novices who obeyed their superiors. Defense attorneys for others questioned why state prosecutors charged officers who failed to intervene in fights that ended before they began.
The Times reviewed a video of one incident that showed a 20-second fight between two youths. In a brief dust-up, the teenagers throw a series of wild barbs at each other, with some of the punches actually making contact. The officer charged in that incident paused briefly before joining a crowd of other officers, who separated the two. The officer, whose case has now been dismissed, was charged with two counts of intentional cruelty to a child.
The indictment – along with grand jury testimony referenced in a civil lawsuit and motion to dismiss the charges – portray Brooks and Smiles as the main drivers of the feud.
According to the charges, he told the other officers present, all of them rookies in juvenile hall, to “say nothing, write nothing, and only watch when the youth fight happens”.
According to a dismissal motion filed by one of the officers, a teen told grand jurors that Brooks “encouraged him to fight” and claimed that both officers “rewarded him with extra breakfast for fighting.”
According to the court filing, the teen told the grand jury that Brooks gave special jobs to children she favored.
“He testified that Ms. Brooks would choose a ‘KP’ or kitchen patrol person based on that person’s fighting ability,” the motion said.
A Times investigation last year found that the practice of probation officers rewarding teenagers who beat up other youth in custody was a problem that predated the “Gladiator Fight” scandal, with one lawyer calling it an “open secret.”
Jonathan Evans, who represents Officer Isaiah Goody, said his client was specifically told by Brooks and Smiles not to break up fights.
“They were seeing that these kids from different neighborhoods were going to fight anyway and they were looking for a way to get it out of their system,” Evans said of the training of his client’s superiors.
Two law enforcement officials told The Times that Brooks and Smiles were investigated for permitting fights years earlier while assigned to Central Juvenile Hall. It was unclear what discipline he faced.
One of the cases to be dismissed following the plea agreement involves a high-ranking official, Ramses Patron, 54. He was charged with child abuse for failing to stop a fight that lasted less than 10 seconds, according to the motion to dismiss. Their attorney, Tom Yu, argued that the state had wrongly accused several officers of planning fights that either occurred spontaneously or were organized by Brooks and Smiles.
The guardian must perform 40 hours of community service and then his case will be dismissed. Yu said his client had served in the probation department for 30 years with an “unblemished record” and that the indictment had turned his life upside down.
“There are no words to describe what my client and his family went through,” Yu said.
Convicted probation officer Ramses Patron, standing with his attorney Tom Yu, is pleading no contest in the “Gladiator Fights” case.
(Gennaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)
Lawyers for the officers whose cases were dismissed said their finances and reputations had been severely damaged, with each being placed on leave without pay for more than a year.
“County employees are entitled to due process. To the extent charges are reduced or dismissed, employees may have the right to seek reinstatement or back pay,” said Vicki Waters, communications director for the probation department.
Many defense attorneys credited state prosecutors for investigating the allegations more thoroughly and ultimately deciding that some cases did not pass the smell test.
“Everybody would love an apology letter,” said defense attorney Bart Kasprowicz. “They carried out this massive witch hunt and effectively changed the lives of 30 people and everyone who depended on them.”
