The many prior hotline calls gave them five points. He was able to find only sporadic work, stocking beer at the Antelope Valley Fairgrounds. Reid took detailed notes, and Garcia soon received a phone call from Stefanie Rodriguez. He asked her to put an A on the paper in the hope that his mother would be impressed. The educator said the boy appeared anxious about his homework and feared to go home sometimes. Rodriguez was able to answer the programs multiple-choice questions based almost entirely on information that had been logged into the agencys files before she began her investigation. The District Attorney may appeal this decision. After they found the file and Dallis left, Merritt said a silent prayer for the boy. She recalls Rodriguez saying that Pearl Fernandez had once spanked Gabriel harshly but did not present an immediate safety threat, and that both Pearl and Gabriel had issues. Shed spent the summer preparing to teach fourth grade at Palm Tree Elementary, in the high-desert town of Palmdale, north of Los Angeles. Prosecutors had granted immunity to a caseworker and a therapist, in exchange for their testimony against Merritt and the other defendants. He rarely went outside during recess, and when he did, Garcia sometimes saw him alone on the playground, kicking a wall. All he knew was that Gabriel was old enough to be in school, which meant he had teachers who were required by law to report signs of abuse. Gabriel was either tardy or absent a lot. Social workers Stephanie Rodriguez and Patricia Clement visited the Fernandez family home on multiple occasions but both workers claimed they never saw signs of abuse that would require Gabriel to be moved out of the family home. Yet time and again, they failed to intervene. In January, a three-justice panel of the 2nd District Court of Appeal issued an opinion directing a lower court to dismiss the charges against the social workers. Instead, she asked Gabriel whether he really wanted to do that days assignment: making a Mothers Day card. Despite their risk level being very high, Merritt manually changed the level to moderate and closed the case. She said yes because some parents spank their children, but asked him again about it at recess. Both were soon fired from the department, as were their supervisors, Gregory Merritt and Kevin Bom. All rights reserved. Stanley and her colleagues often puzzled over the fact that Clement, 68, had been a Catholic nun. Clement had filed for bankruptcy. 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. On Monday, November 26, Gabriel arrived late. Merritt, who is 62, had worked in the department for more than two decades. Still, Mondays events nagged at Garcia. and M.Sc. Four social workers: Kevin Bom, Greg Merritt, Stefanie Rodriguez and Patricia Clement were charged with child endangerment which resulted in death, and falsification of public documents. The Auditor-Controller of Los Angele County provides financial leadership and expert advice on a wide range of fiscal matters and advocates for financial integrity and accountability in all County business practices, and also develops financial policies and guidelines for departmental operations and issues checks to vendors, employees, child support payments, judgments and damages and other claims against the County, as well as other financial responsibilities. Stefanie A Rodriguez is an employee working in Children & Family Services. Is it normal for you to bleed?. An autopsy showed that Gabriel had a fractured skull, several broken ribs and burns over much of his body. The case became the subject of a PBS documentary, and media attention made Logan a symbol of child-protective services overreach. Fernandez pleaded guilty to avoid the death penalty and received a sentence of life in prison without parole. 2020 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. Inside, fluorescent bulbs threw a dull yellow light across the courtroom. (Hons.) The results came back negative. Pearl was yelling at him to sit, and Martinez told her to tone it down. Host Stefanie O'Connell Rodriguez turned to Jill Schlesinger, CFP, a business analyst for CBS News, for advice. Click images at your own discretion. Martinez approached the window where Pearl had been talking with a clerk, Maricela Corona, to ask whether she was going to report Pearl to the authorities. Garcia threw it in the trash in disgust and frustration. The pendulum swung, and the United States saw a nearly 25 percent drop in the number of children in foster care from 2002 to 2012. Username. He occasionally took books off the shelf, copied sentences in his own hand, and took them to Garcia. Why did you lie and tell me you fell?, When I tell you, and that lady comes, then I get hurt worse.. It was stated that there was no probable cause connected to child abuse or falsifying documents in a 2-to-1 opinion. But then someone told her Gabriel was at Childrens Hospital Los Angeles, and she thought maybe there was still hope. However, his girlfriend, now wife, Stephanie Sanger, announced their marriage in a post on her Facebook page, which has since been deleted. The next year, California passed the first state law mandating that doctors report suspected child abuse and neglect. Garcia felt reassured; the agency seemed to be taking the matter seriously. The woman they knew was profane, ill-tempered, and prone to yelling at clients. My mom punched me in the mouth, he said. The 2nd District Court of Appeal advised that the lower court dismiss the charges against the social workers. He finally admitted that Pearl shot him in the face with a BB gun. Two years before Gabriel was born, Pearl was investigated after she and Gabriels older brother were in a car accident where her son suffered a head injury because he wasnt wearing his seatbelt. But the consequences of needlessly separating children from their parents, while less visible, can be devastating too. When I got to the department, instead of cheering the parent on for doing the right thing, theyd want us to take the kid away or tell the kid, Youre right and Your parents have no authority over you.. As Children'S Social Worker at Los Angeles County, STEFANIE A RODRIGUEZ made $49,663 in total compensation. Again, information traveled in one direction: Rodriguez wouldnt tell Garcia what she was doing to protect Gabriel, or whether she planned to remove him from his home. A go-to money expert, Stefanie has appeared on ABC World News, CBSN, Fox & Friends, Fox Business, Bloomberg, Reuters, The Dr Oz Show and various other print and digital media outlets. Dice is the leading career destination for tech experts at every stage of their careers. All six episodes of The Trials of Gabriel Fernandez are available to stream and download on Netflix now. On Thursday, Gabriel arrived at school with a busted lip. Its because my mom shot me in the face with a BB gun!, Okay. She paused, not knowing what to say. The girl later said that her mother asked her to help soak up blood from the floor. Learn more about Muck Rack . Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting. In a short conversation, Rodriguez told me that during the time she supervised Gabriels welfare, other children in her caseload seemed to her to be in equal or greater danger. Found insideWith the introduction of new sections and additional information, the fourth edition should prove highly useful for the students. But Pearl noticed Martinez studying her son and abruptly grabbed Gabriel and his siblings and left, blocking Martinezs view of Gabriel on the way out. Two social workers, Stefanie Rodriguez and Patricia Clement, as well as two of their supervisors, Kevin Bom and Gregory Merritt, were each charged with one felony count of child abuse and falsifying public records. If convicted of knowingly falsifying those records and the felony count of child abuse, the defendants each face up to 10 years in state prison. Stefanie is related to Victor Rodriquez and Sylvia Rodriguez as well as 1 additional person. His hair cut was awful and sloppy, and chunks of his scalp had scabbed over. But she, too, said she didnt think about Gabriels casethat was in the past.. We conclude that the petitioners never had the requisite duty to control the abusers and did not have care or custody of Gabriel for purposes of Penal Code section 273a, subdivision (a). Other Payments such as Shift Pay, Allowances and Bonuses. Copyright 2023 KABC Television, LLC. During the trial, it was revealed that Gabriel had been starved, kept in handcuffs, shot with BB guns, doused with pepper spray, forced to eat his own vomit and locked in a cabinet with a sock stuffed in his mouth to muffle his screams. I dont think theres anything else I could have done, he told me, with the soft voice and slumped shoulders of a man whose fate is now in the hands of others. A Los Angeles County Superior Court judge dismissed charges against social workers who were accused of child abuse and falsifying records related to the death of 8-year-old Gabriel Fernandez. Stefanie Rodriguez in Texas. Please apply today or contact me directly:Dana Laghezza Director, Practice Development LifeStance Health, Inc. (e) Dana.Laghezza @LifeStance.com (p)lt;br> We offer Licensed Therapists (LCPC, LCSW . In a gruesome twist, Logan was placed in the custody of a former caseworker, who disciplined her by gagging her with duct tape and leaving her in the basement, where she died. Stefanie Rodriguez is an actress, known for Phil the Alien (2004). Take your time, Garcia told him. He called 911, but his situation was not an emergency. Two social workers, Stefanie Rodriguez and Patricia Clement, as well as two of their supervisors, Kevin Bom and Gregory Merritt, were each charged with one felony count of child abuse and . If they were to be found guilty, they faced up to 10 years in prison each. Around this time, Gabriel came to class looking even worse than he ever had before. Gabriel would cry at the end of the day because he didnt want to go home. Gabriel, did not directly physically abuse Gabriel and did not have the "duty" required by the child abuse charge. Dixon and Hathaway-Sycamores also handled the very similar case in 2018 when 10-year-old Anthony Avalos died after his mother and her boyfriend abused him. With his mother present, Gabriel told Rodriguez the bruises on his face came from a fall he had playing with his brother and dissenter. Los Angeles County social workers Stefanie Rodriguez, Patricia Clement, Kevin Bom and Gregory Merritt, were charged with two felony counts in relation to the death of Fernandez on April 7,. Social workers Stefanie Rodriguez and Patricia Clement and supervisors Kevin Bom and Gregory Merritt are charged with felony child abuse and falsifying public records in the 2013 beating and torture. The case made against the four social workers never made it to trial. stefanie rodriguez social worker now. Pearl admitted to hitting him with the belt. 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