LANCASTER TEENS WIN $310,000 SETTLEMENT.

Byline: Karen Maeshiro Staff Writer

LANCASTER - Albertsons supermarket and a security firm have agreed to pay $310,000 to four teenagers who were held by two security guards for hours in a supermarket back office and forced to drink liquor.

One of the teens was punched and a girl was molested in the June 2004 incident that resulted in the convictions of the two guards, sending one of them to prison.

``It was an unfortunate thing, and Albertsons wanted to put it behind us. We were very disappointed in the service we received from the security company. It was best for all concerned that the matter be resolved and put behind us,'' Albertsons attorney Frank D'Oro said.

Under the settlement, one boy and one girl each will receive $60,000, the boy who was punched in the stomach will get $75,000, and the second girl, whose clothing one of the guards removed, will be paid $115,000, attorneys said.

An attorney for three of the teens said the settlement was in their best interest.

``While the case had much more value at trial, it was in the best interest of all parties that we avoided any further public display and harassment of these minor children such that a trial would have further caused more traumatic injuries than already have been suffered at the hands of these security guards,'' said Robert Drescher, attorney for three of the teens.

``This case should stand for a warning to parents to be more vigilant in the supervision of their children, and companies should be more vigilant in the individuals that they hire to protect themselves,'' Drescher said.

``In a way I think it's too bad the case didn't go to trial,'' said attorney David Cohn, who represented the boy who was punched. ``There wasn't enough upside to try (my client's) case by itself. On a $75,000 offer and what we might have been able to get, there wasn't enough upside.''

The attorney for S & J Security did not respond to requests for comment. The security firm has gone out of business and the payments will be made by its insurance company, attorneys said.

Cohn's client, now 17, is attending high school. The two girls, now 17 and 15, are in high school, and the second boy, now 18, is going to junior college, attorneys said.

Omar Maurice Ray, 24, of Los Angeles, and Jermar Jackson, 22, of Inglewood, pleaded no contest in January 2005 to child abuse charges after prosecutors agreed to dismiss additional charges, including assault, false imprisonment, committing a lewd act on a child, kidnapping with intent to commit a sexual assault and attempted rape.

Ray was sentenced to four years in prison and Jackson to time already served, three years probation and 120 days' work along state highways.

``Now is the time for healing for the plaintiffs and the defendants. Hopefully they can put this behind them and become adults without having any major problems due to actions of these two unscrupulous guards,'' Drescher said.

The incident occurred June 5, 2004, at the Albertsons supermarket in the 4600 block of East Avenue S in Palmdale. It started after the guards said they caught one boy walking out of the store with a bottle of vodka.

After apprehending the boy and a girl, the security officers went out to a car in the parking lot where another boy and girl were waiting and took them into custody, sheriff's deputies said.

Sheriff's deputies and the teens' parents were never called and the two girls were left with the two guards without a female employee present, contrary to company policy, the lawsuit said.

The security officers wore civilian clothes and were supposed to watch surreptitiously for shoplifters.

One of the girls testified in court in July 2004 that the guards forced them to drink the bottle of vodka, telling them their friend would go to jail if they didn't.

At some point, two of the teens were told to leave, leaving the girl and the friend who was detained for trying to steal the vodka.

The girl testified she was intoxicated when she was taken into a separate room and that Jackson held her up while Ray removed some of her clothing.

The girl said she then threw up. When her friend opened the door, Jackson punched him, the girl said.

The lawsuit said the first boy had originally approached Jackson and asked him to buy him a bottle of vodka. Jackson said he too was too young to buy alcohol, the lawsuit said, but Ray stuck a liquor bottle down his pants and told the boy to do the same.

When the boy walked outside with the pair, they threw him against the wall, handcuffed him and took him back inside, the lawsuit said.

While the four teens were in custody in a back room, Ray said in front of an Albertsons employee that he intended to make the teens drink the vodka, but the employee passed off the remark as a joke, the lawsuit said.

The female employee was there because company policy requires a female employee to be present whenever a female is in custody, but she left the teens alone with Jackson and Ray after Ray told her they were being released, the lawsuit said.

Instead of letting them go, the lawsuit said, Ray and Jackson kept the teens in the back room and made them drink the vodka, then got a bottle of whiskey. After two of the teens were let go, the guards took the other girl into another room, where the remaining boy interrupted them and got punched, the lawsuit said.

The second boy and girl were let go after the girl's parents came to the store looking for her about 3 1/2 hours after the teens entered the store, the lawsuit said. Her parents called sheriff's deputies.

The first girl was found passed out on a street corner by a good Samaritan, the lawsuit said.

Karen Maeshiro, [phone]

karen.maeshiro(at)dailynews.com