The L.A. County Department of Children and Family Services is still haunted by three cases: Noah Cuatro, Anthony Avalos and Gabriel Fernandez.
Pearl Fernandez, Gabriel’s mother, pleaded guilty to first-degree murder. Her guilty plea avoided a trial, where prosecutors were expected to seek the death penalty just as they had with Isauro Aguirre. Fernandez’s defense team had said capital punishment wasn’t appropriate given Fernandez’s low IQ.Superior Court Judge George G.
The death of 10-year-old Anthony Avalos from alleged abuse brings scrutiny to Hathaway Sycamores Child and Family Services, a contractor paid by the county for child welfare services.
A state audit of L.A. County’s Department of Children and Family Services concludes, “The department has allowed children to remain in unsafe and abusive situations for months longer than necessary because it did not start or complete investigations within required time frames.
In a Times profile of Deputy Dist. Atty. Jon Hatami, who successfully convicted Aguirre of Gabriel’s murder, the prosecutor opens up about how his own experience of child abuse shaped his handling of Gabriel’s case. “It’s my truth,” he says. “I know what it feels like to be powerless.
Times staff writers Matt Hamilton, Jaclyn Cosgrove, Matt Brennan, Yvonne Villareal and Garrett Therolf of the Investigative Reporting Program at UC Berkeley contributed to this report.
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