“The motion to dismiss has been granted,” the masked judge said Thursday morning.
A judge dismissed charges on Thursday against four former Los Angeles County social workers accused of failing to protect Gabriel Fernandez, the 8-year-old Palmdale boy tortured to death by his mother and her boyfriend in 2013.
An appeals court had ordered Superior Court Judge George Lomeli to grant a motion to dismiss felony charges of child abuse and falsifying records against Stefanie Rodriguez, Patricia Clement, Kevin Bom and Gregory Merritt.All four social workers, also wearing masks, appeared at the brief, socially distanced hearing in Downtown Los Angeles. In a courtroom hallway afterward, a teary Clement embraced family and her attorneys. “I’m so overwhelmed,” she could be heard saying. Attorneys for all four declined to speak on the record in detail after the hearing. Prosecutors from the district attorney’s office did not appear at the hearing. “Our clients … are very grateful for the court’s ruling that the case was dismissed and that they were declared factually innocent,” said Hagop Kuyumjian, an attorney for Bom. In its Jan. 6 ruling, the Court of Appeals for California’s Second District found that Rodriguez, Clement, Bom and Merritt could not be charged with child abuse because they “never had the requisite duty to control the abusers and did not have care or custody of Gabriel.” The three-member panel also ruled that none of the workers met the definition of “officers” as laid out in California law. Therefore, they could not be charged with falsifying records. In a statement Wednesday, District Attorney Jackie Lacey acknowledged “the appellate court rejected our theory of criminal liability against the social workers.” Her office declined to try to take the case to the state Supreme Court. All four were charged in March 2016, after the D.A. charged the mother and boyfriend with first-degree murder with a torture sentencing enhancement. Isauro Aguirre – the boyfriend of the child’s mother – was sentenced to death in June 2018 after he was found guilty following his trial. The boy’s mother, Pearl Sinthia Fernandez, pleaded guilty in February 2018, and was sentenced to life in prison without parole. Months before he died, Fernandez showed his injuries to his school teacher and a security guard in an L.A. County welfare office. Both reported the injuries to the Department of Children and Family Services and the Sheriff’s Department station in Palmdale. Dozens more reports of child abuse were filed with both agencies, mostly from family members. Deputies visited Fernandez’s home but did not take any reports of child abuse. Rodriguez was assigned to Fernandez’s case, and made several visits to the boy’s home. But he was not removed. Reports of abuse concerning Pearl Fernandez’s treatment of her children went back almost a decade, involving at least one other child as well. In that time, DCFS launched at least six investigations over abuse in the home – all except one case were determined to be “unfounded.” An autopsy of Fernandez found he had several broken ribs and burns over much of his body. He was missing teeth and had wounds in his face from being shot with a BB gun. All four DCFS employees involved in Fernandez’s case were fired and had their licenses to practice social work revoked. Rodriguez and Clement were both social workers. Bom and Merritt were their managers. Their attorneys on Thursday said all would be appealing to the state Attorney General’s office to have their licenses reinstated. In court, they argued violence in the home increased after Fernandez’s case was closed, and said there was insufficient evidence to take him away from his mother. In initially allowing the charges to move forward against the four, Lomeli, the Superior Court judge, called the young boy’s death “foreseeable.” Other officials, including former members of the L.A. County Board of Supervisors, have said the workers missed obvious red flags.The Fernandez case, which came after years of several child deaths in which DCFS workers were criticized for failing to intervene, prompted widespread reforms at the agency. But child deaths have continued to occur.while living with his mother in North Hills. His parents, who said Cuatro drowned in a pool, were later arrested.Both cases involved DCFS and law enforcement investigations that ultimately did not result in either of the children being removed from the homes.No more Cesar Chavez day, but some offices, services will still be closed in LA CountyInside Paul McCartney’s Friday night performance at LA’s Fonda TheatreBreak up LAUSD before it fails another generationKTLA layoffs hit local TV news hosts Mark Kriski, Lu Parker and Glen Walker
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