Hawaiian Gardens Union President Arrested On Molestation Charge

By Brian Hews

Fred Licon, the president of the Hawaiian Garden Employees Union, AFSCME Local 3426, was arrested Tuesday morning on child molestation charges, Los Cerritos Community Newspaper has learned.

Licon, 45, was arrested by the Major Crimes Unit at 8:00 a.m. on March 20 by members of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Fugitive Unit and was taken into custody. He was booked at 10:52 a.m. and released Wednesday after posting a $250,000 bond.

Licon is due in Bellflower Superior Court on April 20th for formal arraignment, according to arrest records from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.

Licon’s Attorney Jeff Kent, said that the alleged victim is the daughter of his daughter’s boyfriend and confirmed that she is four years of age.

“Mr. Licon is anxious to prove his innocence as to this allegation, and is horrified to even be suspected of such a hideous crime,” Kent told LCCN Thursday afternoon.

Licon is an Artesia High School graduate and works as a code enforcement officer.

Hawaiian Gardens spokesman Juan Garza from the consulting firm of Englander, Knabe and Allen said that “the City is aware that one of its employees has been arrested for alleged crimes which took place off-duty.”

“The City is assessing the situation and will take appropriate administrative action. However, the City is not at liberty to publicly discuss personnel matters or information relating to an active criminal investigation,” the statement said.

Daniel Rowe says:

April 2, 2012 at 10:01 pm

It is always to tragedy to hear of such a heinous crime happening in our community. The molestation of a child is a reprehensible offense and like any law abiding citizen my only wish is for justice to be served and the guilty perpetrator to be punished to the full extent of the law. However, we must not be quick to judge Fred Licon. Often in a case like this, residents take sides and neighbor turns against neighbor and we as a community are quick to past judgment based on the rumors we have heard or our personal assumptions that we have made. Though, it would easy for our conscience to condemn Mr. Licon we must not forget that we live in a society where the individual man is innocent until proven guilty. Hawaiian Gardens with our history of gang violence should embrace this notion more than any other community. No matter what your political affiliation might be, we as a community understand how it feels when others are so quick to judge. Let me be clear, I am not defending Mr. Licon’s innocence or saying he is guilty, that is for a court of law to decide. What I am advocating is that we have faith in our laws and let the justice system take its course. Dietrich Bonhoeffer once said “Judging others makes us blind, whereas love is illuminating. By judging others we blind ourselves to our own evil and to the grace which others are just as entitled to as we are.” Let us live by our American ideal of Innocent until proven Guilty and UNITL the verdict is in allow Fred Licon to live and work with dignity and respect.