L.A. county's child welfare department has had a few issues. Like kids being abused and dying under its watch.

Now comes word that a department probation officer charged with helping homeless young people find housing stole cash from them.

Unfortunately the scam wasn't unveiled until Andre Toliver, 39, died of a heart attack in March, according to the Daily News.

Officials at the Department of Children and Family Services allege that Toliver stole about $15,000 from 11 youths he was supposed to be helping.

His gig was making sure his wards, ages 18 to 21, got homes and jobs. As part of that, he was supposed to deposit their earnings in trust funds.

The money normally comes in the form of money orders, but officials say he persuaded the young people to give him cash, which he pocketed.

They say it was probably the only money they had.

“He did keep two sets of receipt books,” said department official Diane Wagner. “Unfortunately, it would appear that we had perhaps a dishonest individual.”

We expect the county to give these kids a full refund, right?

[@dennisjromero/djromero@laweekly.com]

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