Brad Conley⚖️🇺🇸

Sandy Fire Evacuated Residents. Near Woolsey Fire burn scars. Be careful of inhaling smoke. Possible radiation risk. This is an old article. Please read nbclosangeles.com/investigations…

Remember 12/2021 when Mater Dei High School (Santa Ana) capped (another) championship season… this time in shadow of serious hazing allegations? What did @SantaAnaPD, @OCDAToddSpitzer & @OrangeDiocese do about it? - USA TODAY - Dec. 12, 2021 usatoday.com/story/sports/p… MISSION VIEJO, Calif. – The celebration went full force during the postgame trophy ceremony, and maybe it was joyous enough for the Mater Dei High School football team and its fans to forget about weeks of controversy. If only temporarily. Allegations of hazing hover over the program that once again showed it is among the most dominant in the country. The outcome never was in doubt for Mater Dei, the football powerhouse from Southern California that on Saturday won the CIF open division state championship with a 44-7 victory over Junípero Serra High School of northern California. Mater Dei quarterback Elijah Brown connected with wide receiver Cooper Barkate on a 78-yard touchdown on the Monarchs' first possession at Saddleback College Stadium and never looked back. By finishing the season 12-0, the Mater Dei Monarchs likely secured the top spot in the final USA TODAY Sports Super 25 high school football rankings of the season for the fifth time since 1994. That would tie the school with De La Salle of California for most season-ending, No. 1 finishes since the rankings began in 1982.   As if that weren’t reason enough for the Monarchs and their fans to rejoice, Mater Dei alum Bryce Young, now the starting quarterback at Alabama, won the Heisman Trophy on Saturday. Young became the school’s third alum to win the Heisman Trophy, with quarterback Matt Leinart having won in 2004 when he was playing for USC and quarterback John Huarte having won it in 1964 when he was playing for Notre Dame. But there are still the serious allegations. On Nov. 23, details of the alleged hazing surfaced publicly with an Orange County Register report detailing a fight in the Mater Dei locker room. It was part of a hazing ritual at the Catholic school that in February left one of the players with a broken nose and brain injury, the Orange County Register reported. A lawsuit filed by the family of the injured player named Mater Dei and the Roman Catholic Church of Orange, California, as defendants and alleged that Bruce Rollinson, the football team’s head coach since 1988, knew of the longtime hazing ritual called “Bodies.’’ “You have children who have been violently hurt and the reaction of this institution is let’s keep playing and try to get our championship and we’ll maybe convene another investigation,’’ said Michael Reck, an attorney representing the player injured in the alleged hazing incident and the player’s family. “Not let’s pause, let’s get this coach off of here, let’s assess the safety of all the kids. It is keep going, look for that championship, win at all costs and if anything is a problem, it’s cover it up at all costs.’’ Mater Dei has pledged to commission an independent firm to investigate the safety practices of its athletic programs, the Orange County Register reported. Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer has declined to prosecute the matter. “There is not a single shred of evidence to show that this was anything other than a mutual combat situation with two willing participants who traded blow for blow, including repeated punches to each other’s heads,’’ Spitzer said in a statement. “That does not make it acceptable. But it is not a crime.’’ - After the 78-yard touchdown pass, Mater Dei converted a fumble and an interception into touchdowns and added a field goal. The Monarchs also staged a goal-line stand in the final seconds of the first half and led 24-0 at the intermission. Essentially, all that was left was the celebration and likely settling into their final resting place: atop the USA TODAY Sports Super 25 high school football rankings.

“I post these little clips to raise awareness of sex-trafficking… in Los Angeles” near USC. #Figueroa “I try to illuminate the problem without exploiting the victims.” Can you see the children and adolescents?

👆It’s a big deal that the New York Times just published a major article about the rampant & horrific child sex trafficking on the Figueroa Corridor (aka “The Blade”) in downtown Los Angeles. nytimes.com/2025/10/26/mag… Fyi @qaggnews @Shannonagain2 @CTSurvivor17 @thenerdincharge @shepardout

I recently joined a team that rescued a 17 year old child sex trafficking victim. I was in the car as she told her story. It was one of the most shocking things I've heard. Not least because she was escaping FROM THE GOVERNMENT. 'Family Services' bureaucrats planned to send her BACK to the heart of the child sex trade - Figueroa Street in Los Angeles. Something truly sick and inhuman has infected the entire government bureaucracy dealing with children and families...Department of Social Services, County agencies, Child Protective Services, Family Courts. I can promise you that as governor one of my top priorities will be to root out this evil ideology and build a system that truly PROTECTS children and families. You can read my plan to stamp out child sex trafficking below, including the appointment of @PoliticallyBasc as Co-Ordinator of Anti-Trafficking Initiatives. This video was filmed in Lancaster, L.A. County, a few weeks ago, moments after the 17 year old was rescued. She had been temporarily located in a trailer park but was about to be sent by the government back to Figueroa Street. We held the video until we knew she was safe. This morning it was confirmed to me that she is safe and in the care of a loving friend. Soon she will be 18 and able to take control of her life. She told me that she is committed to using her story to help others. She is amazing. Stay tuned.

MANHATTAN BEACH, Calif. — It’s hard not to notice the geographic echo: McMartin Preschool. It’s hard not to notice a lot of things. Like the FBI’s arrest of Joseph Toews—a 30-year-old therapist charged with secretly filming young girls (ages 8-12) in a workplace restroom and (allegedly) producing child sexual abuse material (CSAM)—is in Manhattan Beach, site of the infamous McMartin Preschool case in the 1980s. The McMartin Preschool case is one of the most explosive and controversial child abuse investigations in U.S. history, involving allegations from hundreds of children about sexual molestation, satanic rituals, animal sacrifices, and secret underground tunnels beneath the school where much of the abuse was said to have occurred. No one was ever convicted in the McMartin trials (the longest and most expensive in American history at the time), and the case is widely remembered today as a textbook example of 1980s “Satanic Panic” driven by flawed, highly suggestive child interviews. But a deeper look—especially through the eyes of former FBI Special Agent in Charge Ted Gunderson—raises persistent questions about whether the full story was ever properly pursued or whether victim accounts were too quickly discredited. Gunderson, who headed the FBI’s Los Angeles office from 1977 to 1979, retired before the McMartin case broke in 1983 but later became deeply involved as a private investigator hired by the parents. In 1990, as the preschool building was about to be demolished, Gunderson coordinated a private archaeological excavation with Gary Stickel, PhD (UCLA). Their “McMartin Scientific Report” documented what they described as clear evidence of man-made, back-filled tunnels—including a subterranean opening under a classroom, disturbed soil and debris inconsistent with natural geology, and structures that aligned with some of the children’s detailed descriptions of hidden chambers. (See: iancpilarczyk.com/wp-content/upl…) Parents and Gunderson argued these findings supported the children’s claims that they had been taken underground for abuse. Official earlier digs by the district attorney’s office had found nothing conclusive, and prosecutors ultimately moved on. Gunderson publicly criticized the handling of the case, pointing to what he saw as a lack of thorough follow-up, potential institutional reluctance, and the rapid discrediting of the child victims’ testimonies. He became one of the most vocal advocates for the idea that real abuse had occurred and that elements of the investigation (and broader authorities) had effectively whitewashed or downplayed it. Mainstream accounts still frame McMartin as a cautionary tale of mass hysteria and coercive interviewing techniques. Yet the coincidence of another disturbing child exploitation case surfacing decades later in the exact same small beach community—again involving a trusted professional in a position to access children—invites reflection. It underscores how child predators can operate undetected in everyday settings and why some continue to question whether the McMartin allegations were fully and fairly investigated at the time. Gunderson’s post-FBI work on McMartin (and his broader warnings about organized child exploitation networks) has been dismissed by critics as conspiracy theorizing, but his credentials as the former top FBI official in the Los Angeles region gave weight to his calls for deeper scrutiny. In light of Toews’ arrest, the history in Manhattan Beach serves as a reminder: when multiple children report similar patterns of abuse, especially involving trusted adults or hidden access points, the instinct to dismiss rather than dig deeper can leave real victims unheard. — Adults-in-charge have been lying for decades. Isn’t it way past time to listen to the children?

FBI Agents recently arrested Joseph Toews, 30, a Manhattan Beach therapist, for allegedly producing child pornography by surreptitiously recording girls between approximately 8-12 years old in what appears to be a public restroom in a workplace. Toews is also suspected of purchasing graphic child pornography on darkweb sites on multiple occasions. Toews has been indicted by a federal grand jury as the FBI’s investigation continues, and he remains in federal custody. A photograph of Toews is being released publicly in order to advance the investigation. Anyone who believes they are aware of such activity by Toews or believes they have information about a possible victim is urged to contact the FBI at 310 477-6565 or online at tips.fbi.gov

A shipwrecked mariner fired flares the same day that what has become California's largest active wildfire ignited on Santa Rosa Island. ktla.com/news/californi…

@DavidCranmerUn1 Dominique Swain was on the Malibu Little League softball team I coached when I was in law school. #Orioles @shepardout @DanaDooDah

Trump Launches New Program to Stop Missing Foster Children From Being Trafficked dailysignal.com/2026/05/18/hhs…