Aguirre would call him gay, punish him if he played with dolls, and even made Gabriel wear girls clothing to school. On the wall behind the jury box, dark oily blotches had formed over the years behind the heads of countless weary jurors. . Indeed, this summer a 10-year-old boy named Anthony Avalos was found unresponsive in his mothers apartment in Lancaster, California, just north of Palmdale. One of his eyes was a deep red. Pearl was yelling at Gabriel, who had cigarette burns on his head and neck and marks on his wrists from being tied up. The other children were silent. Stefanie has been found in 13 states including Florida, Georgia, New York, New Jersey, Arizona. Cat feces had been forced down his throat. The haircut? he temperature outside was already in the 80s on the morning last fall when Ezequiel and Virginia testified in Isauro Aguirres murder trial. Speaking to The Atlantic, Rodriguez explained that during the time she supervised Gabriels welfare, other children in her caseload seemed to her to be in equal or greater danger.. After school, Garcia called the countys child-abuse hotline. That means every day I live before the face of God, and thats what keeps me sane.. arlene Starr, the worker who accepted Gabriels case into the Voluntary Family Maintenance program, was one of Greg Merritts closest confidantes at work. Merritt assigned supervision of Gabriels case to a member of his team named Pat Clement, who would become the fourth person from the agency to face criminal charges. She knewas so many of the schools staff members knewthat Gabriel was in danger at home. Justice Victoria Gerrard Chaney concurred that the four could not be charged with child abuse, but wrote a dissent arguing that they could be prosecuted as public officers under the relevant government code section. The program allowed children to remain in the home while the family worked to resolve their issues. Found insideWith the introduction of new sections and additional information, the fourth edition should prove highly useful for the students. Instead, she asked Gabriel whether he really wanted to do that days assignment: making a Mothers Day card. But a senior child-abuse prosecutor told me that if the victim is a child, a quick log entry will suffice. Prosecutors are holding four Los Angeles County social workers criminally responsible and have charged them with child abuse. Gabriels mother, Pearl, was already known to the authorities following previous child abuse-related incidents. We have, in effect, encouraged DCFS and its social workers to cover their tracks if they stumble on the cracks in the system.. About STEFANIE M GUERRERO . Those injuries included hits to the face, punches, and even bullets by a BB gun. Social worker Gregory Merritt appears in The Trials of Gabriel Fernandez. One day, he stole Garcias iPod and took it to his mom, trying to please her. Name. WORK WITH STEFANIE. Gabriel asked his teacher, Jennifer Garcia, if it was normal for moms to hit their kids. During Red Ribbon Week, when teachers talk to children about staying drug-free, Gabriel mimicked snorting cocaine and knew it was a drug. Contact Stefanie, search articles and Tweets, monitor coverage, and track replies from one place. We use your sign-up to provide content in ways you've consented to and to improve our understanding of you. With his mother present, Gabriel told Rodriguez the bruises on his face came from a fall he had playing with his brother and dissenter. He had a masters degree from the University of Southern Californias prestigious School of Social Work, and was known as a fastidious micromanager who marked up his subordinates notes with questions and correctionsall of which makes his handling of Gabriels case even more baffling. When Garcia first met the boy, in the schools front office, she noticed that Pearl and Aguirre werent like the other first-grade parents, who hovered over their children, crouching down to guide them through introductions or to explain how to get lunch. Aguirre pleaded not guilty, however, the jury found him guilty and recommended he be sentenced to death. They acted in a way that was incompatible with the proper regard for human life. Later this year, a jury will reach its own conclusions. Then the department moved on.. "The petitioners' actions here prevented the system from working in whatever way it might have had they done their jobs honestly, and offers no incentive for either DCFS or individual social workers to work to reform and repair the parts of the system that may fail the children it is intended to protect," Chaney wrote. She didnt want to tell him everything would be okaythat felt like it might not be true. Usually, promoting a case meant petitioning a judge to mandate services such as rent stipends or anger-management classes for parents, or seeking a judges approval to place the child in foster care. Back in her classroom, Garcia saw the Mothers Day card on Gabriels desk. Fernandez is currently serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole. Other teachers told her that Summerwind was one of the districts nicest schools, but when Garcia looked around at the peeling paint and crumbling stucco, she thought, If this is the best weve got, were really in trouble. A few days later, Gabriel complained to Garcia that his eye was hurting, so she sent him to Donna Evans, the school nurse, who was brand-new in the job. His father, Arnold Contreras, was in and out of jail but thought Gabriels maternal grandparents would be watching over him. Pearl and Aguirre eventually called 911. As Garcia started reviewing Gabriels progress, his mother blurted, I dont hit my kids.. Prosecutors say that the four minimized evidence of abuse and violated multiple policies, reporting that safety programs at Gabriel's home were working at the time abuse was escalating. He told Le Norgant that he was serious. (In 2013, Los Angeles County had roughly 3,000 caseworkers and more than 200,000 calls to its child-abuse hotline.). However, Lomeli is expected to dismiss the charges at 8:30 a.m Thursday. The internal investigation also found that Stephanie never visited Gabriels school, talked to the neighbours or interview Gabriel and his siblings alone. To fill it, the department required new recruits to start thereincluding Stefanie Rodriguez, who sat in a cubicle within earshot of Merritt. During their trials, it came to light that Isuaro Aguirre forced Gabriel to eat spoiled food and cat feces as well as his own vomit, and locked him in a cabinet with a sock in his mouth and handcuffs around his ankles to sleep. Bom had managed to start a new career as a custody evaluator in divorce cases, but he lost that job after the criminal charges were filed. Towards the end of January, when Gabriel came to class, there was no more laughing. Apply via Dice today! The appellate opinion noted that although they may have failed in their duties as social workers there was no probable cause for a criminal case. Finally, Corona slipped him the familys name and contact information, urging Martinez to save this kid. He called the Department of Children and Family Services twice but got lost in the automated system and hung up. 2023 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. Cigarette burns covered his feet and genitals. When he reached Pearl on the phone she told him that Gabriel had moved to Texas with his grandmother. Gabriel was either tardy or absent a lot. I wanted to go there and hold his hand and say, Youre going to be okay. Why did you lie and tell me you fell?, When I tell you, and that lady comes, then I get hurt worse.. Gabriels eyes seemed to ask Martinez for help. In 2007 a complaint against Pearl claimed she didnt feed one of her daughters and threatened to break her jaw if she cried. For further details of our complaints policy and to make a complaint please click this link: thesun.co.uk/editorial-complaints/, Little Gabriel Fernandez died at the hand of his mother and stepdad, Gregory Merritt was a social worker involved in Gabriel's case, Netflix's The Trials of Gabriel Fernandez explores tragic reason behind his death, Pearl Fernandez and stepfather Isauro Aguirre, Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO). They asked the lawyer representing the L.A. County District Attorney about the term "duty," and the liability of workers. Track SoCal rain with LIVE Megadoppler 7000 HD, DEPARTMENT OF CHILDREN AND FAMILY SERVICES, Uncle breaks silence on Gabriel Fernandez 7 years after his death, Prosecutor in Gabriel Fernandez case was a victim of child abuse himself, DCFS asks for public's help amid sharp drop in possible child abuse reports. 3. The Sun website is regulated by the Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO), Our journalists strive for accuracy but on occasion we make mistakes. Stephanie Rodrigues is a member of the caregiver training team. This time, Garcia didnt ask what had happened. Stefanie Rodriguez, 35; Patricia Clement, 69; and their respective supervisors, Kevin Bom, 41; and Gregory Merritt, 64, were charged in 2016 with one felony count each of child abuse and. Starr said that Stefanie Rodriguez pleaded with her to take Gabriels case. Garcia told the court Gabriel showed up with chunks of hair missing and bloody scabs on his head. Please contact the developer of this form processor to improve this message. But doing so requires a highly trained workforce with the resources to carry out a thorough investigation in every case. In 2018, after Pearl and Isauros sentencing, prosecutors opened an investigation into the four social workers who had been assigned to Gabriels case. This dataset includes compensation information of about one hundred thousands employees working in Los Angeles County, provided by the Auditor-Controller office of Los Angeles County as required by public disclosure laws. When the other children turned to look at him, they laughed and pointed at what they saw: Someone had haphazardly taken chunks of hair from his head, and scabs had formed on his scalp. Copyright 2023 KABC Television, LLC. Garcia cracked a smile as the girls eyes seemed to say, Get me out of here. Corona said she wanted to help but was only filling in. But she said her boss had told her not to call the hotline, because he didnt want to jeopardize Pearls cooperation with the Voluntary Family Maintenance program. He was hungry for Garcias attention and praise and would stay behind at recess to help her collate and staple papers. The case became the subject of a PBS documentary, and media attention made Logan a symbol of child-protective services overreach. 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