Many eyes were on Los Angeles County on April 7 as a claims board approved a long haggled-over $4-billion settlement, following a flood of lawsuits from victims who said they were sexually abused as children in county-run lock-ups and foster homes.
That same day, the L.A. County District Attorney’s Office quietly finalized another decision: The man who had emerged in the lawsuits as the most prolific abuser would not face criminal charges.
Thomas Jackson, 58, a former probation official who was accused by more than two dozen women of sexually abusing them when they were minors, would not be prosecuted because the alleged incidents happened too long ago, the April 7 declination memo said.
The District Attorney’s Office also declined to prosecute Altovise Abner, 46, a probation supervisor who was investigated for having sex with a minor at a camp in 2006, according to another April 7 memo.
Since state legislators gave victims of childhood sexual abuse a new window to sue in 2020, L.A. County has been flooded by claims from nearly 7,000 plaintiffs who said they were abused by caretakers, probation staff or foster parents while they were children in county custody.
County officials referred only two of the cases — those against Abner and Jackson — to the District Attorney’s Office for investigation in December 2023. The decisions not to charge them mean that no new criminal prosecutions will result from the allegations that make up the largest sex abuse settlement in U.S. history.
The charges that prosecutors considered against Jackson included statutory rape, oral sex with a minor and forced penetration with a foreign object, according to the declination memo by Deputy District Attorney Melanie Buccat.
The potential charges for Abner, which included statutory rape, could not be proven beyond a reasonable doubt and were also outside the statute of limitations, according to Buccat’s declination memo.
In a statement, a spokesperson for the D.A.’s office called the alleged sexual assaults at probation facilities “deeply disturbing.” The office remains “steadfast in our commitment to seeking justice whenever possible, and we urge anyone with knowledge of a potential crime to report it, so we can take timely action under the law,” the statement said.
County officials have said that a dearth of records has made it impossible to defend against the lawsuits, fueling the historically large settlement. The same issues, they said, have made it difficult to investigate the claims for criminal prosecution.
Many victims, who were children at the time of the abuse, never knew the first names of their abusers. The perpetrators are usually identified in the lawsuits as some variation on John Doe, with few identifying details. The records to corroborate the allegations, some of which date back to the 1950s, have disappeared. People have moved away or died.
Jackson, who resigned in 2023 after three decades with the county, is a notable exception. His full name was cited in at least 30 lawsuits, according to filings from four different law firms. Another 26 plaintiffs identified their abuser as having the last name Jackson but did not know a first name, according to attorneys from two other firms.
Courtney Thom, whose law firm represents 17 clients accusing Jackson of abusing them at a Santa Clarita juvenile camp, said the decision not to prosecute him was “deeply disappointing.”
“The children he is alleged to have raped and molested in unthinkable ways never stood a chance — silenced then, and now,” she wrote in a text message. “To be met with a lack of accountability from those entrusted to uphold justice is not only heartbreaking — it is terrifying.”
Abner, who was placed on leave in 2023, was accused in a separate lawsuit of groping a 17-year-old at a juvenile camp in Lancaster around 2006. Abner now works as a program manager at the homeless nonprofit HOPICS, according to her LinkedIn.
Abner could not immediately be reached for comment. Jackson’s attorney, Tom Yu, said his client was innocent, and he was pleased the case had been dropped.
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