A pair of Los Angeles County businesses must pay hundreds of thousands of dollars for putting juvenile employees as young as 15 into dangerous situations and working them in excess of hours and times allowed by law.

A&J Meats of the City of Industry and The Right Hire of Downey “jointly employed and endangered children as young as 15 by tasking them to use sharp knives, allowing them to work inside freezers and coolers, and to scheduling them to work at times not permitted by law, all in violation of federal child labor regulations,” the U.S. Department of Labor said in a news release.

Specific violations include:

• Working children for more than three hours on school days
• Working children past 7 p.m. on school days
• Working children more than 18 hours in a week while school is in session

The companies must repay more than $327,000 in profits and pay almost $63,000 in fines. The businesses and A&J owner Priscilla Helen Castillo also must submit to annual Fair Labor Standards Act training and be independently monitored for violations for three years.

“A&J Meats and The Right Hire knowingly endangered these children’s safety and put their companies’ profits before the well-being of these minors,” Western Regional Solicitor of Labor Marc Pilotin said in the release. “These employers egregiously violated federal law and now, both have learned about the serious consequences for those who so callously expose children to harm.” 

If you have questions or concerns about possible workplace violations, you can call 1-866-4-US-WAGE (487-9243) regardless of where you are from. The department can speak with callers in more than 200 languages.

In Rosemead, deputies with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, in cooperation with several other county agencies, have hit the streets to connect unhoused people with shelter and services.  

Deputies from LASD’s Temple Station and the department’s Homeless Outreach Services Team have been engaged in the initiative alongside L.A. County Probation and the Los Angeles Center for Drug and Alcohol Abuse in an effort to provide “comprehensive support, including mental health services, substance abuse treatment, and housing assistance,” an LASD news release stated.  

“No one gets better in a homeless encampment,” Lt. Bill Kitchin told KTLA’s John Fenoglio. “From day one, their health deteriorates while they are there.”  

These specially trained deputies, along with their partner agencies, are working to get homeless residents help if they want it.  

At a Rosemead homeless encampment, Deputy Chris Lewis pointed out the dangerous living conditions.  

“Somebody actually lives over there on that mattress,” he said. “You can actually see the condition that this encampment is in. It is not a safe environment for anybody to be staying in.”  

There are those, however, living on the streets, like one man identified only as Gilbert, who do not want the help.  

“I’d rather struggle out here,” he said. “I don’t like shelters. I don’t even like neighbors. It’s a little too loose for me.”  

According to the latest data from the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority, there are 75,518 unhoused residents in L.A. County. In Rosemead, city officials say there’s been a spike in crime committed by the unhoused population.  

“We want to make sure that they understand that we’re here to try to support them while also supporting our communities,” Deputy Lewis explained. 

A 17-year LASD veteran, Lewis says he and his team usually encounter homeless residents struggling with mental health and substance abuse problems.  

During Monday’s outreach, the deputy met a man named Donald, who had been sleeping in the park. When Lewis offered help, Donald took it.  

“That’s definitely going to be a success story,” he said. “You could see that Donald was already letting you know he had some mental health concerns. Us coming out here and connecting with him, we were able to get him some of those mental health resources.”  

Despite the hurdles, Deputy Lewis said the homeless outreach has been truly rewarding.  

“The truth is that we are given the opportunity and the time to truly help our communities out,” he explained. “You’ll see when we go out and talk to these people. We spend a little more time with them to find out what is their major concern and what can do to help them.”  

Lewis added that the reward is seeing a person go from living on the streets to getting housing or reconnecting with their family and getting back to life.  

An investigation is underway after a 42-year-old inmate in Southern California condemned to life without parole was fatally stabbed over the weekend, prison officials announced.  

Investigators at the California Department of Corrections’ Ironwood State Prison in Blythe, eastern Riverside County, said that on June 22 around 7 p.m., three inmates attacked Luis Padilla, leaving him with multiple stab wounds.  

“Staff immediately sounded the alarm,” a CDCR news release states. “The three assailants fled the area but were quickly located and detained without incident.”  

Life-saving measures were performed on the 42-year-old, and he was transferred by medical staff to Ironwood State Prison’s triage and treatment area.  

Padilla, who was transferred to the facility from Los Angeles County in 2001, was pronounced dead at 7:38 p.m., prison officials said.  

At the scene of the attack, investigators found two inmate-manufactured weapons.  

The three suspects in the fatal attack, 28-year-old Samual Ricardez, 23-year-old Jonathan Orduno and 26-year-old Juan Madrigal, all transfers from San Diego County serving life without parole, were moved to restrictive housing while Investigative Services Unit and the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office investigate.  

Ironwood State Prison, which opened in 1994, houses more than 3,100 minimum, medium and maximum-security inmates.