Compton : Care Center Charges Filed

Criminal charges of child endangerment have been filed against the operator of a Compton home for disabled children, as well as a social worker who was responsible for inspecting the facility, Compton police said. The Miller Child Care Center, on West Billings Street, also had its operating license suspended by court order, according to Bob Pate, a supervisor for the California Department of Community Care Licensing. The center was home to five disabled children who have since been relocated.

Mozell Cox, operator of the home, was accused in two felony counts, while one count was lodged against Shashi Mahajan, a social worker for the South-Central Los Angeles Regional Center for Developmentally Disabled Persons, Compton Sgt. Steven M. Roller said.

The charges are based on “a series of incidents” that involved alleged child neglect, Deputy Dist. Atty. Michael Barton said. An investigation began in December when officers learned that an 8-year-old blind, retarded and wheelchair-bound boy had allegedly been left alone in the rain while waiting to catch a bus to a special school in Downey. The child also had open sores on one side of his body. When police and licensing officials went to the home, Barton said, they “found several different violations of the licensing code.”