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News: 4 Social workers charged for 8yr old boy kill by his mother
Member Since: 1/7/2010
Posts: 4,967
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4 Social workers charged for 8yr old boy kill by his mother
Four social workers charged for failing to save 8-year-old boy who was 'beaten to death by his mother and her boyfriend'
- Four social workers were charged on Thursday for mishandling a case which led to the abuse and death of 8-year-old Gabriel Fernandez
- Stefanie Rodriguez, Patricia Clement, Kevin Bom and Gregory Merritt have been charged with falsifying records and child abuse
- If convicted,they could face as much as 10 years in prison
- All four were fired last year following an internal investigation into the 2013 death of Gabriel Fernandez
- Merritt successfully challenged his termination and is now working for the county in another capacity
Gabriel died May 24, 2013, of injuries that included a fractured skull, broken ribs and burns across his body
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Prosecutors charged four Los Angeles County social workers with child abuse, saying they were so negligent in handling the case of an 8-year-old boy who died of gruesome, multiple injuries that just like his abusers they were criminally responsible.
The four, who include two supervisors, also were charged with falsifying public records.
The Department of Children and Family Services said Thursday all four were fired last year after an internal investigation into the 2013 death of Gabriel Fernandez of Palmdale.
'In our rigorous reconstruction of the events surrounding Gabriel's death, we found that four of our social workers had failed to perform their jobs. I directed that all of them be discharged,' the department's director, Philip Browning, said in a statement.
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Social workers Stefanie Rodriguez (top left), Patricia Clement (top right), Kevin Bom (bottom left) and Gregory Merritt (bottom right) appeared in court on Thursday as they were arraigned on charges connected to the death of an 8-year-old boy
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An arrest warrant filed March 28 identifies the four Los Angeles social workers as Stefanie Rodriguez, 30, Patricia Clement, 65, Kevin Bom, 36, and Gregory Merritt, 60. Merritt, who was one of the supervisors, successfully challenged his termination and is now working for the county in another capacity.
Gabriel died May 24, 2013, of injuries that included a fractured skull, broken ribs and burns across his body. Gabriel's mother, Pearl Fernandez, and her boyfriend, Isauro Aguirre, have pleaded not guilty to murder and are in jail awaiting trial. Prosecutors have said they will seek the death penalty.
The Department of Children and Family Services opened a case file on him on October 31, 2012, more than six months before he died. In bringing charges, District Attorney Jackie Lacey said it was the social workers' responsibility to protect him.
Instead, prosecutors say, Rodriguez and Clement falsified reports that should have documented signs that Gabriel was suffering from escalating physical abuse and that his family had stopped participating in efforts to keep the family together. They say Bom and Merritt, as supervisors, knew or should have known those reports were false.
'By minimizing the significance of the physical, mental and emotional injuries that Gabriel suffered, these social workers allowed a vulnerable boy to remain at home and continue to be abused,' Lacey said.
All four social workers appeared in court Thursday to be arraigned, but the hearing was postponed until April 21. Instead, bail for each was set at $100,000.
Their lawyers argued they should be released without bail, saying all had longtime ties to the area, arrived in court as ordered and had done much good for their communities.
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Gabriel's mother, Pearl Fernandez (right), and her boyfriend, Isauro Aguirre (left), have pleaded not guilty to murder and are in jail awaiting trial. Prosecutors have said they will seek the death penalty
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Clement, who was seen sobbing before the arraignment, is a former nun who worked most of her career as a public servant, according to her lawyer, Darcy Calkins. She also said she expects Clement will be exonerated.
Clement has a graduate degree in marriage and family counseling and served as a chaplain at juvenile hall, Calkins said.
Bom is a licensed therapist and elder in his church, and Merritt teaches college courses, according to their lawyers.
'We're talking about a situation where there's a death of a child,' Judge Sergio Tapia said in setting bail, which was less than the $155,000 prosecutors had sought. But the judge praised the four for arriving in court as promised and remaining well- mannered as they sat there all day.
If convicted of child abuse and falsifying records, they could face as much as 10 years in prison.
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Gabriel's siblings, who are minors, told a grand jury in 2014 that their brother was forced by their mother and her boyfriend to eat cat feces and rotten spinach and was never allowed to go to the bathroom.
His mother and her boyfriend would call him gay and beat him when he played with dolls and made him wear girls' clothes to school.
He was hit with a belt buckle, a metal hanger and a wooden club and one day Fernandez knocked his teeth out with the bat.
On the day of May 22, 2013, Gabriel's siblings said that Fernandez beat her son because he wouldn't clean up his toys.
Then she took him to a bedroom and was joined by Aguirre and chillingly, the next thing Gabriel's siblings heard was screaming and banging and then silence.
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James Kemp Ribe of the LA County coroner's office told the grand jury that he had 'never seen this many skin injuries on on child'
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...#ixzz45GB5VCZN
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Member Since: 1/7/2014
Posts: 1,739
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Such a sad, disgusting story...some people shouldn't be allowed to be parents.
Hope the mother & her boyfriend rot in jail.
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Member Since: 4/6/2014
Posts: 9,220
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Kevin Bom (bottom left) is a bottom and cute. Sad story though
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Member Since: 8/19/2013
Posts: 23,375
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Trash all around, that poor baby may he rest in peace.
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Member Since: 8/6/2015
Posts: 8,372
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How can someone harm a child? Idgi. This is so sad and heartbreaking.
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Member Since: 12/16/2008
Posts: 59,380
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Disgusting, lock them all!!!
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Member Since: 3/15/2013
Posts: 16,409
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Why do disgusting ass animals like these people decide to have kids if theyre just going to treat them like this? 
For ****s sake this is sad
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Member Since: 8/7/2015
Posts: 2,690
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This is so sad. 
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Member Since: 8/1/2012
Posts: 18,271
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Quote:
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All four social workers appeared in court Thursday to be arraigned, but the hearing was postponed until April 21. Instead, bail for each was set at $100,000.
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Too much. 
The article doesn't offer much information on how and how badly they neglected their job, but up to 10 years of prison for the social workers? It wasn't them who killed and abused the boy.
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Member Since: 11/25/2008
Posts: 6,349
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Sad how often such stuff happen 
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Member Since: 3/12/2012
Posts: 6,144
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Ugh this story made me so mad. Can't believe they made him eat his own vomit, stuffed a sock in his mouth and locked him in a cabinet. I want those ****ers to pay the worst punishment ever. How can you do that to an innocent 8 year old. I can't with some people.
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Member Since: 8/1/2012
Posts: 9,673
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Member Since: 8/19/2013
Posts: 24,694
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that poor child
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Member Since: 11/18/2008
Posts: 60,607
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this made me tear up I feel so sad right now especially after seeing his pics  how can you be so cruel, evil and ****ed up to harm an innocent kid who youre supposed to love and protect? the way they abused him its even more disgusting. I hope they all rot in hell including the social workers.
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Member Since: 8/17/2013
Posts: 4,854
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jfc... I just hope that "mother" and her boyfriend get life in prison.
As for the social workers if they really ****ed it up in any way they deserve to be punished too. I'm fed up with people getting social working jobs only for the pay or the benefits and not realizing how important of a task it is to our society.
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Member Since: 8/7/2015
Posts: 9,307
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Why the **** would you have a child if you're gonna abuse the **** out of them?? I'm so furious I hate when children have to go through this.
RIP Gabriel sweetie  Hope those bitches rot in hell.
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Member Since: 1/27/2006
Posts: 51,546
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Quote:
Originally posted by A Little Unruly
Too much.
The article doesn't offer much information on how and how badly they neglected their job, but up to 10 years of prison for the social workers? It wasn't them who killed and abused the boy. |
It does. They falsified records that would have otherwise shown signs of continued, aggressive abuse. Very simple. Could mean anything from not documenting the little boy's telling of what was happening to him / writing positive reviews of the case/parents, etc. It doesn't need to get too much more detailed. Especially considering the child is dead so we don't know his truth.
And it's their job to protect children from abusive situations like this. Literally. They didn't kill the boy themselves, but they allowed him to remain in an obviously dangerous home. They're lucky involuntary manslaughter doesn't apply since they didn't do the actual killing. But the potential time jailed is appropriate.
I would say the supervisors would need to be looked at deeper. Did they know that the records were false? Were they simply ignoring to follow up on reviews? Either way though, it's still neglectful. They essentially work for all the children in their system, making sure their employees are doing everything by the book to avoid something like this.
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ATRL Contributor
Member Since: 4/3/2014
Posts: 18,319
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Member Since: 8/13/2012
Posts: 32,832
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The two who killed him should be torturef tbh this is not acceptable and death penalty is not enough they should suffer horribly, they are pure evil
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Member Since: 5/16/2011
Posts: 3,432
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