With the criminal probe into Nicholaus Contreraz's death five months ago apparently in limbo in Arizona, a California congressman on Tuesday asked state Attorney General Dan Lungren to step in and take over.

Rep. George Miller, D-Pleasant Hill, wrote a letter to Lungren asking for a criminal investigation into the Sacramento teenager's death at an Arizona Boys Ranch facility on March 2.

Miller, who already had requested state and federal probes into the matter, also asked for a sweeping look at whether hundreds of other California juveniles are being subjected to mistreatment at out-of-state rehabilitation centers.

"I am concerned that the documented abuses against these children may well constitute a crime that, given their status as California residents, should be prosecuted by California legal authorities," Miller wrote.

Lungren spokesman Rob Stutzman said the attorney general will look into the matter, but that a full-fledged effort to prosecute the case is out of the question.

"Obviously, alleged crimes that happened outside of California cannot be prosecuted under California law, and we assume he (Miller) understands that," Stutzman said. But he added that Lungren has no intention of ignoring the case and will "see if there's anything we can do to make sure truth comes to light."

"We take what the congressman's asking very seriously," Stutzman said. "We're going to explore where this is at and realistically look to see if there's anything we can do."

The exchange over Contreraz's death unfolded as it became increasingly clear that little is being done by Arizona criminal authorities to investigate the death of the 16-year-old Sacramento youth, a petty criminal who had been sent to the Arizona Boys Ranch in January.

A spokesman for the main law enforcement agency investigating the death conceded Tuesday that little progress has been made because of a lack of resources and other problems.

Charles Ratliff, a spokesman for the Pinal County (Ariz.) Attorney's Office, said a sheriff's investigator continues to probe the case, but that other action has been delayed because Pinal County has only 12 criminal prosecutors and each is overwhelmed with other cases and a growing workload stemming from a tripling of the rural county's murder rate.

There also are problems because of the size of the case, which Ratliff said has been expanded beyond the Contreraz probe to include allegations going back to 1994.

"The attorney working on the Boys Ranch case has been taking the time she has and reviewing the file," Ratliff said. "It's just basically in the review stage now."

Contreraz died at the ranch's Oracle, Ariz., camp after what ensuing investigations identified as mistreatment, physical and mental abuse and a failure by the camp to diagnose a serious illness.

Since then, several agencies in California and Arizona have started investigations of the teenager's death and the ranch's programs, and California has cut off funding to send juveniles to the Arizona Boys Ranch.

Arizona's Pinal County has requested a $100,000 grant from the Arizona Prosecuting Attorneys Advisory Council to hire another prosecutor and an additional investigator, but a decision on that application is still weeks away.

Normally, the county also would have the option of asking Arizona's attorney general to step in and help, but Ratliff said Pinal County decided not to because of a conflict of interest in the attorney general's office.

One of the attorney general's top lawyers -- law enforcement liaison F. Kenton Komadina -- also serves on the advisory board of the Arizona Boys Ranch.

Such an affiliation is not unusual for the ranch, which also boasts of having directors or advisers ranging from a former Arizona governor to a one-time top strategist for California Gov. Pete Wilson. But the explanation for the delay did little to soothe the anger of Contreraz's family in Sacramento.

"What else do they have to look at?" asked Connie Woodward, the youth's grandmother. "What more could they possibly have put in front of them?

"They've (Arizona Boys Ranch officials) admitted their guilt, they've got it in black and white what they did. What in the name of God are they looking for? Certainly, Nicky can't come back and tell us."

Arizona Boys Ranch officials have apologized for the death and the management breakdown they say contributed to it, but they remain adamant that the treatment Contreraz received is not part of their program's philosophy.

Despite that, a California investigation led the state Department of Social Services to cut off funding for placements at the ranch, and counties around the state, including Sacramento, have begun looking at how and when to pull youths out of the facility.

The Arizona Department of Economic Security, which licenses the program, also has an investigation under way and is expected to decide on the future of the Arizona Boys Ranch before Sept. 1, when the privately run program's temporary operating license expires.

Contreraz's death also has led to legislative reform efforts in California, which at one point sent more than 1,000 youths to 18 out-of-state programs at an annual cost of $45 million.


Copyright © 1998 The Sacramento Bee

What kind of bullshit is this?!?

Members of Congress request investigation by GAO
US Deparment of Justice opens probe
DES interoffice memo
State knew of abusive treatment years ago
It's time to bring in the Feds
California cuts funding to Arizona Boys Ranch
California investigation rips Arizona child protection agency
Report excerptsCalifornia blasts Arizona agency
California report summary
California Department of Social Services news release July 7, 1998
Directive to all California county probation officers and social service departmentsJuly 7, 1998
Letter to Arizona regulatorsJune 19, 1998
Who's guarding the kids from the guards?
One hundred twenty days
Arizona Boys Ranch Operating Permit extended
Sheriff's initial incident report
Prosecutor's reviewing evidence
Case may be too big for Pinal County prosecutors
Time to keep the kids in California
Nurse wants her name cleared in death of NicholausOne dead kid isn't enough???
The death of Aaron Bacon: Another boot camp murder
Justice for Nicholaus