Movie Extra Offer Leads to Bogus Abuse Claims in LA County Settlement

What began as a seemingly innocent offer of $100 for movie extra work has emerged as part of a troubling pattern of allegedly fabricated sexual abuse claims against Los Angeles County, potentially threatening a landmark $4 billion settlement intended for genuine victims.

Austin Beagle, 31, and Nevada Barker, 30, were trying to sign up for food stamps this spring when they say someone approached them outside a Long Beach social services office. The recruiter, a man hawking free cellphones, offered them background roles in what they thought was a film production.

“They said we’d be extras,” said Beagle, who was unemployed at the time. “But when we got to the office, that’s not what it was at all.”

Instead of a film set, the couple found themselves at the Downtown LA Law Group offices, where they claim they were given scripts to memorize alleging sexual abuse by guards at Los Padrinos Juvenile Hall around 2005. “The worse it was the better,” Beagle recalled being told.

On April 29, Downtown LA Law Group filed a lawsuit against the county on behalf of 63 plaintiffs, including Beagle and Barker, who had never been detained at Los Padrinos. The couple signed retainer agreements entitling the firm to 45% of any settlement payout.

The firm has denied any involvement with recruiters who allegedly paid plaintiffs, stating they would never “encourage or tolerate anyone lying about being abused” and have been conducting additional screening to remove “false or exaggerated claims” from their caseload.

Beagle and Barker are now the third and fourth individuals to come forward alleging they were paid to invent stories that led to lawsuits against the county. Their accounts follow a Times investigation that found seven plaintiffs who claimed they received cash from recruiters to sue the county over sex abuse.

After the investigation was published, the firm requested dismissal of two cases brought by individuals who admitted fabricating their claims: Carlshawn Stovall and another filed under a family member’s name by Juan Fajardo.

These allegations have sent shockwaves through both LA County government and law firms involved in the settlement. Officials are now scrambling to determine how to preserve what remains the largest sex abuse settlement in U.S. history.

For genuine survivors of abuse in LA County juvenile facilities, the revelations are devastating. Trinidad Pena, 52, who sued the county in 2022 over being raped at age 12 at MacLaren Children’s Center, was shocked to meet someone at a homeless services center who admitted being paid $20 to file a fraudulent lawsuit.

“It felt like a kick in the gut,” said Pena. “For somebody just to lie about it was just sickening.”

Pena, currently living in and out of her van with a failing medical shunt for a cyst behind her eye, relies on $1,206 monthly in benefits. For her and many other legitimate victims, the settlement represents not just acknowledgment of their trauma but a life-changing sum that could provide critical medical care and stability.

Jimmy Vigil, 45, who was molested as a 14-year-old at a detention camp in Lancaster, expressed disgust at the fraudulent claims. “You have absolutely no clue what I went through,” said Vigil, now a mental health case manager in Ventura County.

The county’s juvenile detention system indeed has a documented history of widespread sexual abuse. Kizzie Jones, 47, says she still takes antidepressants because of a female probation officer who molested her twice weekly. Robert Williams, 41, attributes his social isolation to repeated sexual assaults in the shower as a teen. Mario Paz, 39, remains so traumatized by his abuse that he cannot change his children’s diapers.

Cornelious Thompson, a 51-year-old community health worker who sued after being assaulted while drugged at Los Padrinos, recently lost his job due to county budget cuts partly implemented to pay for the settlement. The irony isn’t lost on him—losing employment because the county is finally addressing his trauma, only to now worry whether he’ll still be believed.

“For someone to capitalize on something that they never endured or never experienced, I think it’s a travesty,” Thompson said.

As for Beagle and Barker, who have since moved back to Texas, they’re not counting on receiving any settlement money. “We need it, but it’s not ours,” Barker said. “It’s like finding a wallet. Return it.”