Dad arrested in child exchange; charged with attempted murder (Shasta County, California)

Yet another dad who never should have been allowed any custody/visitation rights.

Dad is identified as SHEA MONTGOMERY.

http://www.redding.com/news/local/Deputies-Dad-arrested-in-child-exchange-379566061.html

Deputies: Dad arrested in child exchange

Posted: 2:45 a.m.

A child exchange turned violent Saturday afternoon in Castella, resulting in the arrest of the biological father for investigation of attempted murder, domestic violence and child abuse, the Shasta County Sheriff's Office reported.

The female victim called for help about 4:35 p.m.only after she regained consciousness from being strangled by the father, Shea Montgomery, 40, according to the sheriff's office.

The woman told deputies she was assaulted and her life was threatened by Montgomery in the child custody exchange of their 14-month-old child, deputies said.

Deputies said Montgomery strangled the woman, telling her he would kill her, their child and himself.

The woman tried to break free by scratching Montgomery on his face and elsewhere, but she lost consciousness from being strangled, deputies said.

On regaining consciousness, she said she saw Montgomery walking away with their child, deputies said.

While deputies were en route to Castella in northern Shasta County, the sheriff's office contacted the California Highway Patrol for assistance. A CHP unit found Montgomery along with the woman and child, who was found safe and unharmed, the sheriff's office said.

Deputies met up with the CHP unit and put Montgomery under arrest and then took him to jail.

Dad with shared custody convicted of 2nd-degree murder in fatal beating of 7-month-old son (Vista, California)

We live in a culture that is increasingly putting the pressure on mothers to "share" custody with men who are little more than sperm donors. In many cases they were never married to these men, and the relationship didn't even last through the pregnancy. These guys have no prior relationship with the infant. They are not bonded to the mother--or by extension--to the baby.


Babies need a consistent loving caregiver, generally the mother. They do not benefit from going off for TEN WHOLE DAYS with a "frustrated" father who cannot deal with normal infant crying. Because we ignore this basic common sense rule, babies are killed.


Dad is identified as STANFORD MOROCHO. See the Killer Dads and Custody list for California.


http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/2016/may/04/marine-baby-death-sentencing/


Father gets 15 years to life in baby’s murder
Camp Pendleton Marine ‘beat the child for a week,’ a prosecutor said


By Dana Littlefield | 4:31 p.m. May 4, 2016


VISTA — In a case a prosecutor described as “heartbreaking,” a former Camp Pendleton Marine who fatally beat his 7-month-old son was sentenced Wednesday to 15 years to life in prison.


Stanford Morocho, 23, pleaded guilty in March to second-degree murder in the 2014 death of his son, Emilio Michael Harvey. He was arrested in December 2014, on the day he brought his baby to a Naval hospital on the Marine base.


Emilio was not breathing.


The child’s mother, Jannelle Harvey, had a brief relationship with the defendant and later gave birth to their son. Although their relationship had ended, the parents had an informal agreement to share custody of the child.


Harvey, formerly a lance corporal in the Marine Corps, wept at the sentencing hearing in Vista Superior Court as she stood in front of a judge to speak about her loss. Because Harvey was too emotional to do so, a friend read Harvey’s written statement in the courtroom.


“My world was flipped upside down as I was required to navigate the unthinkable,” Harvey wrote in her letter, describing how she struggled to go on after learning of her baby’s death. She said she found it too difficult to fulfill her duties, and was honorably discharged from the military.


“I lost my baby, I lost my household, I lost the Marine Corps and I lost my identity,” the letter read.


She noted that she and others should have been preparing to celebrate Emilio’s birthday this month — he would have been 2. Instead, she was in court standing near the man responsible for her child’s murder.


“Emilio could not run away,” she said in her letter. “He could not say no... .”


Harvey said it breaks her heart to know that she only got to hear her son call her “Mama” once.\


Judge K. Michael Kirkman sentenced Morocho to the prison term prescribed by law. “It’s my opinion that the defendant should never be released from prison,” the judge said. “This is a horrible crime.”


Prosecutors have said Morocho abused his son between Dec. 2, 2014, when he took physical custody, and Dec. 12, 2014, when the baby was flown to Rady Children’s Hospital after he was taken to the Camp Pendleton base Naval hospital for a medical emergency.


Hospital staff notified Oceanside police about 9:15 a.m. that the baby had died.


According to court documents, medical staffers at the hospital found that Emilio had suffered skull and rib fractures. The Medical Examiner’s Office determined that the manner of death was homicide.


Morocho admitted to investigators that he had squeezed the baby’s ribs, smacked him on his buttocks and legs when he would not stop crying, and hit his head on a door, according to a pre-sentencing report. He also said he had pinched the baby on the chin when he was upset with the child.


After the hearing, Deputy District Attorney Ryan Saunders put it more succinctly: “He beat the child for a week.”


On Wednesday, Morocho spoke directly to Harvey in the courtroom, saying he was sorry for all the pain she had been through. His voice quivering, he said he loved Harvey because she would always be the mother of their son.


“I’m sorry for this tragedy that occurred,” the defendant said. “I hope that you will forgive me one day.”


Morocho was in a relationship with another woman, Savoeun Meas, and was living with her at the time the baby died. Prosecutors contend that she witnessed the abuse but did nothing to stop or report it.


Meas, a Marine sergeant, has pleaded guilty to felony child endangerment. She faces up to six years in prison at a hearing scheduled for May 18.

Custodial dad pleads not guilty to endangering 9-year-old daughter (San Diego, California)

Dad is identified as JOE TAVOLAZZI. CPS now has custody. Not one word on what happened to this girl's mother or how Dad got custody to begin with.

http://www.10news.com/news/father-pleads-not-guilty-to-child-endangerment-041116

Not guilty plea entered for man accused of endangering 9-year-old daughter

By: Robert Santos
Posted: 7:06 PM, Apr 11, 2016
Updated: 5 hours ago  

SAN DIEGO - A father could face up to 14 years in jail if he’s found guilty of endangering his 9-year-old daughter.

The girl was found to be living in a backyard shed with her father and his 29-year-old girlfriend.

Joe Tavolazzi, 60, and his 29-year-old girlfriend Kimberly Bradeen were arrested Thursday along with six other adults at a property on the 12700 block of Lindo Lane in Lakeside.

Team 10 found out Sheriff's deputies responded to 19 complaints against the Lakeside home in the last two years.

One neighbor told 10News, “Nothing good was happening in there.”

Last Thursday, deputies searched the entire property. Their search quickly focused on the shed that contained a shot gun, a .22-caliber rifle and 8.1 grams of methamphetamine.

In court today, deputy district attorney David Williams III, told a judge there was a serious danger to the child. Via closed circuit TV, Tavolazzi pleaded not guilty to child endangerment and other felony charges.

A judge set his bail to $190,000 and ordered him not to have contact with his daughter. Bradeen also pleaded not guilty to similar charges except the one related to child endangerment. She also faces a charge of being an addict in possession of a firearm and a stun gun.

Shortly after deputies made arrests Thursday, a 10News crew went to the home and encountered hostility. One unidentified person used profanity at our crew.

The girl’s uncle, Ted Tavolazzi insisted the girl had access to a bathroom in the house 100 feet away.

“She was well taken care of, that's enough!” said Ted Tavolazzi.

Deputies say despite the conditions, they found the girl to be in decent health. She’s in the custody of Child Protective Services.

Tavolazzi and Bradeen will be back in court on April 20. They will be charged and tried as co-defendants.

Dad living in transitional home for male addicts that helps him get custody of medically fragile 2-year-old daughter; girl dies within two months, but dad deemed not responsible (San Jose, California)

This has fathers rights crap all over it. For years, the federal government has funded FR groups meant to "reunite" dangerous criminals, addicts, and mentally ill fathers with their children and force those kids into the father's custody. There is funding to do this. No equivalent funding for mothers.

So we yank a medically fragile 2-year-old girl out of foster care for what? To give her to a formerly jailed, addicted father living in an all-male transitional housing situation devoted to getting these creeps access to little kids. No one with any background (or interest) in taking care of disabled children. Just getting ownership. Dead in two months. Who didn't see that coming.

Mother is (allegedly) "mentally impaired" but there are no details--the reporter doesn't bother to follow-up on the hearsay testimony. Maybe she wasn't mother of the year material, but you got to wonder whether she would have managed to kill off a todder within two months WITH NO CONSEQUENCES. He even keeps his name out of the media. Slick move!

http://www.contracostatimes.com/breaking-news/ci_29643334/santa-clara-county-foster-child-dies-after-being

South Bay foster child dies after being sent to live with dad in home for recovering addicts

By Karen de Sá
Posted: 03/16/2016 07:00:22 AM PDT | Updated: about 7 hours ago

SAN JOSE -- Santa Clara County officials are reviewing why a medically fragile 2-year-old girl was sent home to live with her father in a transitional home for recovering drug addicts, about two months before she was found dead.

It still isn't clear what caused the Feb. 28 death of Kelly Nguyen -- who required specialized care for a chromosomal birth defect known as DiGeorge syndrome. But the unusual placement -- and the rare death of a Santa Clara County foster child -- is raising troubling questions.

Kelly's death is not being investigated as a homicide. Her father is described by the girl's previous foster parents as loving and well-intentioned, but they had been told he was recently released from jail and struggling with drug problems when social workers placed Kelly in his care. Her mother had already been ruled out as a caregiver.

The couple had two older, healthy boys also in foster care, but authorities chose to give the father a second chance at parenting with Kelly, who could not speak and suffered from a genetic syndrome causing lifelong disability and developmental delays.

"It raises red flags," said Lisa Traxler, president of the Kinship, Adoptive and Foster Parent Association of Santa Clara County, a foster parents assistance program. "It's a home with men coming out of jail or in recovery and they're not better yet -- they're there for a reason, so having a nonverbal, medically fragile child in his care at age 2 -- if something happened, she can't tell anybody."

For now, all eyes are on the Santa Clara County coroner's office, which has completed an autopsy but is conducting further tests in the coming weeks to determine how the girl died.

"We grieve for her passing at much too young of an age," said Stanley Lee, social services program manager for the Department of Family and Children's Services. "But we don't know why she passed away."

Meanwhile, the county is exploring what might have gone wrong in Kelly's case: County Executive Jeff Smith said Tuesday that in light of the girl's death, the Department of Family and Children's Services "is reviewing the decisions related to her placement." Foster care placements must be approved by a judicial officer in the juvenile dependency court, after attorneys representing each parent, the child and the social worker have argued their positions. Traxler and other foster parents familiar with the case said they support reunification with birth families whenever possible. But this case was different.

"Had she been my foster child, I would have asked for a meeting," said Traxler, who has cared for 68 foster children over 21 years. "I would have spoken with the child's attorney, I would have stepped in to be a voice for this little child because she doesn't have a voice -- I would have said: 'What's the hurry? Let's let dad get a little further in his recovery.' "

Most parents working through dependency courts to regain custody of children they've been accused of abusing or neglecting suffer from addiction, homelessness or mental illness. Often, they are placed in transitional housing units while they work their way through court-ordered recovery and parenting programs.

At times, children are placed with mothers in transitional housing. But it is more unusual for fathers to reunite in those settings, Lee and other system insiders confirmed.

"The department does the best they can and they don't intentionally set out for anyone to be harmed, but I think sometimes mistakes are made as in any life situation," Traxler said. "From what it looks like from where I'm sitting, maybe it was a mistake."

Kelly's father -- who is not being named because he is not suspected of wrongdoing in her death and could not be reached Tuesday -- was referred to a six-bed, two-story home in South San Jose that serves fathers going through the local Dependency Wellness Court. The specialty foster care court serves parents in recovery who are actively engaged in regaining custody of their children.

"It doesn't matter whether it's a mother or a father, as long as a parent can safely protect and care for a child," Lee said. And if that parent is deemed worthy while "transitioning to more long-term housing," he added, "the law would require us to consider that as a possibility."

But the placement continues to trouble those mourning Kelly's death, including foster parents who attended services March 10 at the Oak Hill Memorial Park for the affectionate little girl with short-cut bangs and boundless enthusiasm. Her tiny body lay in a small casket in a lacy white dress.

"She was literally a ray of sunshine; she was infectious," said one of her several former foster mothers, Shellie Nichol. "Everywhere she went, she would walk around and hug everyone. Within hours, you'd fall in love with her because she was just the sweetest thing on the planet."

Kelly arrived at Nichol's San Jose foster home last June, completely nonverbal and with a clear need for ongoing medical attention and physical therapy, Nichol said. During the six months she cared for Kelly, who she affectionately called "Kiki," Nichol said she kept a video monitor trained on her all night. That's because the small girl would often choke on her mucus, and frequently vomited after crying and overeating, she said.

Nichol was told when she first received Kelly that her mother was mentally impaired and her father was in jail. But by July, he was out and visiting his daughter diligently, she said. Nichol and others familiar with the case said they believed the parents loved the girl but were unable to care for her.

Yet, based on a social worker's recommendation, Kelly was moved from Nichol's home to another in a succession of foster homes, and then reunified with her father.

Within two months, San Jose police received a 1:15 a.m. call from her father's temporary home stating that the toddler was unresponsive. She was pronounced dead at the hospital.

Although homicide detectives were initially called to the home -- following protocol for an unexpected child death -- there has been no arrest in the case. "We are not investigating it as a homicide at this point," San Jose police spokesman Officer Albert Morales said.

Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors President Dave Cortese, who leads a committee overseeing foster care, said Tuesday he was not familiar with the details of Kelly's death. But he noted the loss.

"The worst possible tragedy is the loss of a child -- in any circumstances -- and a foster child is our child," Cortese said. "Fundamentally it's our responsibility to ensure the safety of every child that's in our system. This is a member of our extended family and we need to feel the emotional pain and look at what we could have done differently."

Judge allows state lawsuit filed by protective mother to go forward (San Francisco, California)

Dad is identified as DANIEL CROCKET.

http://www.courthousenews.com/2016/03/07/scorched-earth-battle-continues-in-norcal.htm

'Scorched-Earth' Battle Continues in NorCal

By PHILIP A. JANQUART

SAN FRANCISCO (CN) - A judge dismissed federal, but not state, claims against officials in a Northern California county arising from a "scorched-earth" child custody battle and allegations of government corruption.

U.S. District Judge Richard Seeborg on Thursday granted Del Norte County officials' motion for summary judgment on a woman's federal claims of deprivation of familial association, but allowed state claims to proceed.

The lawsuit stems from the allegedly unwarranted seizure of minor twin daughters, Jane Does 1 and 2, and their temporary placement by Child Welfare Services into foster care after their mother took them into a neighboring county "without legal authority to do so," breaking a court order to return them to her ex-husband and failing to appear at a Feb. 3, 2012 custody hearing.

Seeborg described the fight between Jennifer Brown and ex-husband Daniel Crocket as a "scorched-earth" battle for custody of their daughters that dates back to January 2012, when Brown and her father took her children to neighboring Humboldt County for medical exams.

Believing that Crocket had molested the girls, Brown and her father Barry Brown, a former county investigator, took them to a Humboldt County hospital for Sexual Assault Response Team exams.

Brown said she took them to Humboldt County because Child Welfare Services in Del Norte County did not respond adequately to the sexual abuse allegations. Del Norte County is the farthest northwest county in California, on the Oregon border. Its county seat and only incorporated city is Crescent City.

Brown says her father informed Del Norte County officials by letter and telephone that he was taking the children from the county for their own safety, in accordance with California Penal Code § 278.7(a), which states that "criminal penalties for child abduction do not apply to those who have legal custody of the child, [and] have 'a good faith and reasonable belief that the child, if left with the other person, will suffer immediate bodily injury or emotional harm.'"

Del Norte County District Attorney Jon Alexander nonetheless issued arrest warrants for the Browns.

Crocket was cleared of the sexual molestation allegations and the court granted him primary custody of the girls. Brown and her daughters sued Crocket, Alexander, Del Norte County and others for several claims under state and federal law, including deprivation of familial association under the First and Fourteenth Amendments.

Brown claims that Alexander, whom she had informed of the girls' whereabouts by telephone, omitted material information from affidavits in support of the arrest warrants for child abduction, and that he did so because Crocket contributed to his campaign fund.

The defendants sought judgment on the pleadings on Jan. 13, 2016.

Although Brown claims she spoke with Alexander and told him where the girls were and why they were there, Seeborg said she nonetheless was obligated to follow court orders.

"Jennifer's contact with Alexander did not relieve her of the obligation to comply with the custody and visitation order or her duty to appear at the Feb. 3 custody hearing," Seeborg wrote in the march 3 order. "Accordingly, even if Alexander submitted false information in support of the application for the protective custody warrant, those statements were unnecessary to the finding of probable cause.

Specifically, even it Jennifer has complied with California Penal Code § 278.7(a), such compliance relieved her of the prospect of criminal punishment for child abduction, not her obligation to comply with the custody and visitation order. Plaintiffs have therefore failed to show that a reasonable jury could conclude the county defendants impermissibly interfered with plaintiffs' right to familial affiliation; defendants are entitled to summary judgment." (Citations omitted.)

Seeborg ruled that Brown's remaining state claims may proceed, and retained jurisdiction over the case on the basis of "judicial economy and convenience."

Dad with history of DV and unspecified "custody order" arrested for beating 2-year-old daughter; girl in critical condition (Bakersfield, California)

Once again, you grant a father with a history of domestic violence access/custody rights to a toddler--and the predictable happens. When will authorities stop giving violent men custody of kids? You have to be a moron not to know what will happen next.

Dad is identified as IZAAC SANCHEZ.

http://www.kerngoldenempire.com/news/toddler-in-critical-condition-father-accused-of-child-abuse

Toddler in critical condition, father accused of child abuse

By KRISTIN PRICE

Published 02/08 2016 05:52PM Updated 02/08 2016 05:52PM

BAKERSFIELD, Calif.

Security footage shows the chaotic scene as a two-year-old girl is rushed to the hospital after she was found not breathing Sunday night at an Oildale home. Her father is behind bars, suspected of abusing the toddler.

Izaac Sanchez, 27, is accused of child abuse resulting in comatose. Deputies say his daughter has suspicious injuries. She is now fighting for her life. Sheriff's officials say the girl is hospitalized in critical condition.

Neighbors say security footage shows the toddler's mother pulling up to the house with a group of women. Three minutes after they walk in the door, the family is panicking.

Neighbors heard the commotion and ran over to help. Saydee Degner says she performed CPR, but the girl did not respond.

First responders arrived shortly after. They worked on the toddler for more than ten minutes before taking her to the ambulance.

"She had a large bruise, almost black bruise on her chin. It was very large" Degner said, "The father said she had slipped in the bathtub."

Sheriff's officials say the other children in the home were taken into protective custody.

According to court records, Sanchez has a custody order involving six children with Anastasia Jordan .

In 2009, Sanchez pleaded guilty to spousal abuse and false imprisonment.

Sanchez denied our request for a jailhouse interview.

He's being held on $1,020,000 bail. Sanchez is scheduled to appear in court Wednesday.

Sex offender dad keeps custody of 8-year-old daughter (Bakersfield, California)

This case has all the classic red flags of child sexual abuse--and all the signs of judicial cover up of the same. Dad is identified as NICHOLAS ELIZONDO.

http://www.bakersfield.com/columnists/2015/12/28/jose-gaspar-sex-offender-dad-keeps-custody-of-child.html

JOSE GASPAR: Sex offender dad keeps custody of child

BY JOSE GASPAR
For The Californian Monday, Dec 28, 2015 12:00 AM

For the second time in less than three years, a court recently awarded custody of an 8-year-old girl to her father, who is a registered sex offender.

I first told you about this strange case back in 2013 when a judge in Oklahoma City awarded custody of the then 6-year-old child to 57-year-old Nicholas Elizondo of Bakersfield. In 1995, Elizondo pleaded no contest to one count of lewd and lascivious acts with a child younger than 14.

Elizondo later married Lisa Knight and the pair had a child, but the marriage didn't work out and Knight moved to Oklahoma City, where she was raising her daughter. After his release from prison, Elizondo traveled to Oklahoma City and obtained visitation rights to see and be with his daughter. He then fought for custody of the girl, which was granted by Oklahoma County Judge Howard Haralson.

Knight appealed and lost.

Elizondo came back to Bakersfield with his daughter and Knight followed soon after and filed for child custody in Kern County Superior Court. But Knight had a big hurdle to overcome.

The fact that her ex-husband is a registered sex offender could not be used in the child custody hearing. Kern County Court Commissioner James Compton said that issue had already been litigated in Oklahoma City. Knight would have to show that there was a significant change of circumstances detrimental to her daughter living with her father that warrants a change of custody.

The mother alleged that while looking through a window, she saw her daughter and Elizondo in the same bed and Elizondo was wearing nothing but underwear.

On the stand, Elizondo said he was wearing “swim trunks,” not underwear. He also said his daughter was simply on top of the bed, not “under the covers” with him.

Police were called to the house, but nobody was arrested or charged with a crime. Knight said she believed her daughter was at risk of being sexually abused, was not receiving proper medical care and had a urinary tract infection. Knight also claimed Elizondo had assaulted her at a hospital parking lot in Madera.

The child never testified, though she was represented by her own court-appointed attorney, Stephanie Childers. Earlier this month, Compton ruled in favor of keeping the child with Elizondo while Knight has visitation rights.

“The court does not find a basis to change custody,” said Compton.

Elizondo declined to give an interview but stated, “This proves I’m not a danger to my own daughter.”

The hearing did provide an opportunity to finally get a reading of why Judge Haralson initially awarded Elizondo custody of the child. Court transcripts from the Oklahoma case in 2013 were admitted into evidence.

Though Knight has no criminal or drug abuse history, Haralson found she was not the person raising her daughter. Rather, he said, other relatives were, and the child had not received proper psychological and medical treatment.

“Mother is not doing her job as a parent, and I wish she would,” said Haralson.

Allegations that the child had been sexually abused were not found credible. And referring to Elizondo, the judge said, “He's got a target on his back as a registered sex offender, and you know people are going to try to set you up.”

The child Elizondo was convicted of molesting back in 1995 is now an adult, and she testified in Oklahoma on behalf of Elizondo, saying the abuse never happened. Elizondo, a former parole officer, has said the only reason he pleaded no contest in 1995 was because Kern County had just finished prosecuting the infamous “witch hunt” child sex abuse trials.

These were cases in which scores of local people were sentenced to hundreds of years in prison after being wrongfully convicted. Elizondo said he feared the same would happen to him, so he took a six-year plea deal and served four before being released.

Knight said she will continue to pursue the case and plans to appeal.

What a bizarre case. Who is telling the truth? A child's life hangs in the balance.

Dad convicted of burning hands of 2-year-old son in boiling water during visitation (San Leandro, California)

These days, FRs would tell you that the solution to fathers like DANTE ROBERTSON is to give them FULL custody. 'Cause somehow they were "frustrated" or something but wouldn't be if they had full control and were able to fully punish Mother as she deserved. Yea, I know. Pure bullcrap.

How about no access? No access=no abuse. But we're told that's "simplistic." Seems to me that it makes more sense than constantly "involving" sh**s like this father and somehow believing that some fantasy goodness will come out of it all.

http://www.dailydemocrat.com/general-news/20151209/san-leandro-father-convicted-of-child-abuse

San Leandro father convicted of child abuse

By Malaika Fraley

Posted: 12/09/15, 3:42 PM PST|Updated: 1 day ago

OAKLAND -- A San Leandro father was convicted Wednesday of felony child abuse for burning his 2-year-old son's hands with boiling hot water in 2011.

Jurors deliberated for two and a half days before finding Dante Roberson, 43, guilty of child abuse resulting in great bodily injury. Roberson, who had been free on $100,000 bail, was taken into jail custody after the verdict was read Wednesday afternoon.

The child is still undergoing treatment from the skin on his hands being melted off from hot water while under Roberson's care in September 2011. The boy's mother, who had primary custody, was not home when it happened.

A doctor testified at Roberson's trial that the child's injuries were the result of "forced submersion," according to a prosecutor.

A sentencing date will be picked Thursday.

Lawyer: registered sex offender dad keeping custody is "right decision" (Bakersfield, California)

Remember when the Fathers Rights movement claimed that they were just about loving daddies getting to see their children like mommies do? Remember when concerned mothers and others warned that mandatory joint custody and other schemes to promote father involvement could lead to abuses if domestic violence, child abuse, criminal behavior and the like was minimized or ignored? You remember how those concerns were dismissed as "irrational" or "hysterical"?

Welcome to the brave new world. The FRs and their minions don't just ignore abuse now. They openly flaunt that a custodial dad of an 8-year-old daughter, a dad who is a restistered sex offender, should have sole custody. And how that's a good thing. This is how sick things are now.

Dad is identified as NICHOLAS ELIZONDO.

http://bakersfieldnow.com/news/local/lawyer-sex-offender-dad-keeping-custody-was-the-right-decision

Lawyer: sex offender dad keeping custody was the right decision

By Adam Herbets, Eyewitness News |Wednesday, December 9th 2015 

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KBAK/KBFX) — An attorney representing a registered sex offender says he's happy with the court's ruling to not award custody to the child's mother.

Eyewitness News has been covering the story of Nicholas Elizondo and his ex-wife, Lisa Knight, for about two and a half years. Their 8-year-old daughter has been stuck in the middle of it. Ira Stoker, Elizondo's lawyer, said there is a lot more to the case than just the fact that, yes, his client is a registered sex offender.

"We deal with these issues every day in family law court," he said. "There's nothing really new here."

He went on to say that even though he's never represented a registered sex offender before, Elizondo's criminal record doesn't disqualify him from being the best parent to take care of his daughter.

These are all things that a judge in Oklahoma knew when Elizondo was awarded custody of the young girl in 2013. Stoker did not represent Elizondo in that hearing, but he studied up on the case after Knight filed for an appeal.

"He made that ruling because that was in the best interests of the child," said Stoker. "There was issues revolving (around Knight's) mental state."

Elizondo declined requests for an interview, but he did give one statement after the hearing.

"This proves I'm not a danger to my own daughter," he said.

Stoker thinks the whole thing was blown out of proportion, especially because he knew that Court Commissioner James Compton would not relitigate the original case from 2013. That means Knight would have had to show that there had been a change of circumstances to be awarded sole custody. Knight still believes there should have been enough to get a more favorable ruling.

"There might have been some sexual abuse going on," said Knight. "She won't say. She won't say why she's afraid of him ... I'd do almost anything for her, and I just keep fighting."

Knight pleaded for the opportunity to let her daughter to testify in court, but an attorney representing the minor's best interests said that wouldn't be a good idea.

"(My daughter) would have said that she wanted to live with her mother," said Knight.

The custody arrangements will stay the same. Knight will get to see her daughter three weekends out of the month, because Compton said he thinks the child needs both parents in her life.

Knight isn't convinced. She continues to be afraid of what could be going on at her ex-husband's house.

"He's a sociopath," she said. "It's scary and a lot of parents don't believe that it's happening, but it is."

Stoker said he hopes Knight doesn't try to file another appeal, for her daughter's sake.

"Anything that any loving parent can do with their child, (Elizondo) is allowed to do. He's the father," said Stoker. "He's never gotten angry. He's never even been resentful towards her ... basically she made allegations of anything that she could think of."

Dad in "custody dispute" abducts 9-month-old daughter, threatens to kill her (Antioch, California)

UNNAMED DAD

http://antiochherald.com/2015/11/p19003/

Man arrested for taking his Antioch child from mother during custody dispute, threatening to kill her, Wednesday

By Corporal Powell Meads, Antioch Police Field Services Bureau

On Wednesday, November 25, 2015 at approximately 3:43 PM, Antioch Police Officers were dispatched to the 500 block of W 9th St for a custody dispute involving a 9-month-old female. Officers arrived on scene and contacted the child’s mother, a 19-year-old Antioch resident.

The child’s mother reported that during an argument, her estranged husband, a 20-year-old resident of Waterford, took their 9-month-old child and fled in a vehicle that did not have a car seat, while also driving recklessly. She reported that she continued to argue with the father via cell phone at which point he made threats to kill himself and the child.

The child and her father were eventually located at an apartment in Waterford. The child was not harmed and was returned to her mother. The child’s father was arrested for criminal threats and an unrelated felony warrant from Sacrament County.

This preliminary information is made available by the Field Services Bureau.

Dad sentenced to 50 years for rape, torture-murder of 19-day-old daughter (Newhall, California)

Since Daddy apparently raped the baby before or after killing her, not sure why this doesn't qualify as a "special circumstance" murder eligible for the death penalty.

Dad is identified as MATTHEW BRENDAN WARNER.

http://www.signalscv.com/section/36/article/143258/

UPDATE: Newhall father sentenced to 50 years to life for murder of newborn daughter

By Jim Holt
Signal Senior Staff Writer

Posted: October 6, 2015 1:53 p.m. Updated: October 6, 2015 4:03 p.m.

As expected, a Newhall man who last month pleaded no contest to first-degree murder in the death of his 19-day-old daughter was sentenced Tuesday to 50 years to life in state prison, a spokesman for the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office said.

Matthew Brendan Warner, 30, of Newhall, appeared Tuesday in San Fernando Superior Court where he was sentenced, but not until he heard from the dead girl’s mother and grandmother, Deputy District Attorney Julie Kramer told The Signal Tuesday.

Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge David Walgren heard victim impact statements from Ellorah Rose Warner’s mother and grandmother before sentencing.

“They talked about the loss Ellorah’s death has had on them,” Kramer said outside the courtroom. “It was very emotional,” she said. “The mother said she’s never going to get a chance to pick out a Halloween costume for her daughter.

“She talked about Thanksgiving and Christmas. She said she would never be able to take her to meet Santa,” Kramer said.

“The girl’s grandmother told the court that she wore a locket and that Ellorah’s hair was in the locket, and that it was only thing she would ever have of her granddaughter,” she said. “She said the loss was something she would carry with her forever.”

Warner entered a no contest plea last month to one count of first-degree murder and admitted a prior strike conviction.

He killed Ellorah Warner at their home in Newhall while the baby’s mother was at work on Jan. 23, Kramer said.

He then claimed the newborn had been kidnapped and a search was launched to find her, she said.

Warner eventually led authorities to the victim’s body, which he had hidden in the cab of a truck parked in a nearby parking lot.

After his arrest, Warner faced charges of assault of a child causing death, torture, oral copulation or sexual penetration with a child under 10 years old, and aggravated sexual assault of a child.

Those charges were dismissed as part of his negotiated settlement, DA spokesman Ricardo Santiago said last month.

Warner “was charged with first-degree murder, not a special circumstance murder,” so the death penalty was not considered in the case, Santiago said. “In California only murders with a specific set of special circumstance allegations (are) eligible for the death penalty,” he said.

Those can include murders committed during a robbery or rape, or if someone has committed multiple murders.

"Custody dispute" dad FINALLY convicted of throwing 4-year-old daughter off cliff in 2000; didn't want to pay child support (Los Angeles, Califonria)

Dad CAMERON BROWN is FINALLY convicted after 15 years. It seems like we've been following this case forever.

See the Killer Dads and Custody list for California.

http://news.yahoo.com/dad-convicted-hurling-child-off-cliff-faces-life-081109408.html

Dad convicted of hurling child off cliff faces life term
Associated Press
 By BRIAN MELLEY 1 hour ago 

LOS ANGELES (AP) — She would be a young woman now, but instead Lauren Sarene Key is forever the 4-year-old girl who never returned from a visit to the shore with her father.

Nearly 15 years after the girl plunged to her death from a 120-foot seaside cliff, her father faces a sentence Friday of life in prison without parole for her murder.

Jurors found Cameron Brown, 53, a former airline baggage handler, guilty of hurling the girl from Inspiration Point in Rancho Palos Verdes in November 2000 amid a bitter custody dispute with her mother.

The first-degree murder conviction in May came about a dozen years after Brown was arrested and followed two previous trials when jurors decided the death was a crime, but they couldn't agree whether it was murder or manslaughter.

Brown told police the girl tripped and fell as she ran toward the cliff.

Defense lawyer Aron Laub said Brown was a bad father, but not a murderer. Laub disputed testimony by a prosecution expert that showed a girl her age wouldn't have been able to run fast enough to land where she did in the rocky ocean below. He asked jurors to convict Brown of manslaughter.

Brown and the girl's mother, Sarah Key-Marer, had a short-lived romance that soured when she got pregnant.

Brown wanted Key-Marer to get an abortion, and he even tried to get her deported to her British homeland,

Deputy District Attorney Craig Hum said. Hatred toward his ex-girlfriend was the key motive, though there was evidence that Brown was also trying to get out of costly child support payments, Hum said.

A witness came forward at the third trial who testified that Brown said it would be "nice to get rid of Lauren" to avoid $1,000-a-month payments.

Because jurors also found Brown killed the girl for financial gain and that he lay in wait, he faces a mandatory term of life without parole.

Key-Marer is expected to show up for the sentencing.

"All I ever wanted was that he would take responsibility for that day," she said after the verdict was announced.

After she left the courtroom that day weeping, however, Brown told the judge he was innocent.

Custodial dad with history of chld abuse charged with capital murder in stabbing deaths of three sons (Los Angeles, California)

Now we find out how coddled custodial dad LUIS FUENTES was despite multiple complaints to CPS. Typical. So he kept on abusing the boys till he murdered them.

http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-father-charged-with-capital-murder-in-stabbing-deaths-of-three-sons-20150915-story.html

Father charged with capital murder in stabbing deaths of three sons
By Nicole Santa Cruz
September 15, 2015, 4:36 PM

A father accused of fatally stabbing his three young sons was charged Tuesday with capital murder, according to the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office..

The children, Luis Fuentes, 10; Juan Daniel Fuentes, 9; and Alexander Fuentes, 8, were found in the backseat of a silver SUV in the 300 block of East 32nd Street the morning of Sept. 9.

Their father, Luis Fuentes, 33, was found in the front seat, seriously wounded. #Police believe he stabbed himself with a kitchen knife. Fuentes was charged with three counts of murder with an allegation of multiple murders.

Last week, the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services launched an investigation into whether social workers had adequately probed several allegations that the boys were at risk and whether staff responded appropriately to what they learned.

The department's involvement with the family began in March 2010, when someone called the county's child abuse hotline to allege that the boys were being physically abused, said two officials who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the case. Social workers were unable to prove or disprove the allegation and marked it inconclusive, the officials said.

Another hotline call alleging abuse came in September 2010. Social workers determined the allegation to be true, and lawyers for the department petitioned the juvenile court to open a case, officials said. The boys reportedly remained in the father's home until the case was closed about a year later.

Two more hotline calls alleging physical abuse were made in April 2014, the sources said. Social workers investigated the allegations, finally marking the claims "inconclusive" in October.

The department had no further contact following last year's hotline calls, despite at least one call to police about an argument in recent months. Investigators will now analyze whether police shared that report with the child abuse hotline.

Family and friends were shocked by the deaths. Byron Fuentes, the man’s brother, told The Times last week that the last time he saw Luis Fuentes was about a month ago. Lately, his brother had withdrawn from relatives. As tears welled in his eyes, he said family will always be family.

“I’m trying to process what happened, I just don’t understand it,” he said.

In the neighborhood where the family recently lived, neighbor Maria Munoz said her 10-year-old grandson would play on scooters with the three boys.

“I always saw them happy,” she said. “They were like normal kids.”

Fuentes is being held without bail and is due in court Wednesday.

Dad pleads no contest to sexually assaulting, beating to death 19-day-old daughter (Los Angeles County, California)

Talk about a useless waste of oxygen.

Dad is identified as MATTHEW BRENDAN WARNER.

http://www.hlntv.com/article/2015/09/11/dad-murder-baby-sex-assault-matthew-brendan-warner

Dad beat newborn to death, hid body in truck, cops say
By Cortney Peltz updated11:14 AM EDT, Fri September 11, 2015

Prosecutors say Matthew Brendan Warner, 30, sexually assaulted and beat his 19-day-old daughter to death
Warner hid her body in a truck and reported her as missing
Warner pleaded no contest to first-degree murder
Dad beat newborn to death, hid body in truck, cops say

A California father pleaded no contest to killing his 19-day-old daughter and hiding her body in the cab of a truck.

In late January, Matthew Brendan Warner, 30, allegedly sexually assaulted the newborn and beat her to death while the child’s mother was at work, according to a news release from the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.

Warner wrapped the infant’s body in a towel, placed her inside of a bag, and left her in the cab of a truck parked in a nearby parking lot, the news release states.

Warner then reported his daughter as missing and claimed she had been kidnapped.

He later gave deputies information that led investigators to her body.

Warner will spend 50 years to life in state prison for first-degree murder, prosecutors said.

Warner initially faced charges of assault of a child causing death, torture, oral copulation or sexual penetration with a child under 10 years old, and aggravated sexual assault of a child, but those charges are expected to be dropped as part of his plea agreement.

He is scheduled to be sentenced on October 6.

A call to Warner’s attorney was not immediately returned.

Three boys stabbed to death by custodial dad identified (Los Angeles, California)

Dad is identified as LUIS FUENTES.

http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-brothers-killed-identified-20150910-story.html

Three young brothers allegedly stabbed to death by their father are identified
By Nicole Santa Cruz and Ben Oreskes

The Los Angeles County coroner has identified three brothers allegedly killed by their father and found in the back of an SUV in South L.A.

The boys were identified as Alexander, Juan and Luis Fuentes, ages 8, 9, and 10, respectively. Their father, identified by friends as Luis Fuentes, is suspected in the killing. Police said the children’s father was found in the front seat of the SUV, suffering from what appeared to be self-inflicted stab wounds.

It appeared the family had been sleeping in the car, detectives said.

A poster board with pictures of the brothers was placed on the sidewalk near the crime scene. Family members hinted that their father may have been having financial difficulties.

People gathered at the crime scene Wednesday night and placed flowers, candles and food including Cheez-Its and Doritos — the children’s favorite snacks — on the sidewalk.

The grisly discovery shocked the neighborhood where the boys’ bodies were found. #John Sorrentino said he got to work Wednesday morning and spotted a silver SUV parked outside his furniture warehouse on East 32nd Street.

He walked closer and saw a man in the driver’s seat with blood on his face. A child’s body slumped in the back seat, his eyes partially open.

“The young boy was just staring straight out, almost like he was staring into my eyes,” he said. Sorrentino then noticed two more victims: the child’s brothers. Sorrentino ran back to the warehouse and, in a panic, dialed 911.

Officers arrived about 7 a.m. and found the three children in the back seat. Their father was hospitalized with stab wounds.

Police said the man is the main suspect in the killings and would not say why the family was in the area or what led to the stabbings. A steak knife was recovered from the scene, police said.

The killings were the latest amid a rise in homicides in the city, prompting officials to send extra officers to the most violent areas. Last month, 39 people were killed, the most in a single month since 2009, data show. Most of the killings occurred in South Los Angeles.

Police Chief Charlie Beck held a somber news conference at the scene, across from an elementary school. The children attended other L.A. Unified Schools, he said.

The children’s stepmother was interviewed by police and was cooperative, officials said. There was no record of a custody dispute involving the children or a record of domestic violence.

“These are incidents that scar not only the community, but the first responders who have to handle them,” Beck said.

Custodial dad suspect in stabbing deaths of three young sons (Los Angeles, California)

UNNAMED DAD. I wonder if we know for a fact that the mother died from natural causes....

http://news.yahoo.com/3-children-dead-stab-wounds-car-south-los-170734220.html

3 brothers found stabbed to death in LA; dad is suspect
Associated Press
By AMANDA LEE MYERS 24 minutes ago

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A father repeatedly stabbed his three young sons to death with a knife in the back seat of their car outside a South Los Angeles elementary school Wednesday before it's believed he turned the blade on himself, police said.

The father, said to be in his 30s, was found in his car bleeding from stab wounds to the chest, his dead sons in the back and a knife in the passenger seat. The boys, ages 8 to 12, were pronounced dead at the gruesome scene.

The father, whose name was not released, is the only suspect in the killings, police said. He was taken to a hospital in critical condition and will be arrested if he survives his wounds, Los Angeles Police Officer Matthew Ludwig said.

The motive was unclear and is being investigated. The father had no history of domestic violence charges or arrests, police said. "These are horrific incidents," police Chief Charlie Beck said.

"These are incidents that have scarred not only a community but the first responders that have to handle them."

"It is a sad day in LA," he said.

John Sorrentino, whose furniture store is next to the crime scene, said he was the one who first spotted the bloody scene and called 911.

"I saw this man behind the steering wheel covered in blood," he said. "I got a little bit closer, and I saw a young child in the back seat and his eyes were half open and he was covered in blood.

"He was staring out, just in space. It's still etched in my mind."

Sorrentino said he then saw another motionless boy bent over a seat, and in the back, a leg of the third boy lying upright. That's when he ran inside his store and called 911.

The three boys did not attend the elementary school next to the crime scene, Beck said, but they are enrolled in the Los Angeles Unified School District.

Beck said the boys' mother is deceased and that their stepmother was safe and being interviewed by detectives.

It was unclear whether the boys lived with their father.

The deaths come as homicides are on the rise in Los Angeles. In August, 39 killings drove a year-to-date uptick in murders in the nation's second-largest city, according to police statistics. The 39 killings in August are compared with 22 the previous month and 19 last August.

Daniel Avalos, who works for Sorrentino and has five children between the ages of 3 and 12, said he saw paramedics pulling the man out of the car and one of the children still in the back.

"We're in South-Central, so stuff like that kind of happens around here. But the fact that it's children — that's heart-wrenching," Avalos said. "It's hard to think about."

Custodial dad charged with "endangerment" in death of 2-year-old daughter; girl died from blunt force trauma to head (Carthage, Missouri)

Media reports thus far have been a little inconsistent and sketchy as to how dad ALBERT STEVEN O'CONNOR gained custody of this little girl and who gave it to him.

http://www.joplinglobe.com/news/preliminary-autopsy-findings-confirm-carthage-girl-died-from-blows-to/article_ef240536-50c9-11e5-9f82-b3728bbcfeb6.html

Preliminary autopsy findings confirm Carthage girl died from blows to head

Posted: Tuesday, September 1, 2015 11:53 am
Debby Woodin
Posted on Sep 1, 2015
by Debby Woodin

CARTHAGE, Mo. — Preliminary autopsy findings show that a 2-year-old Carthage girl died of blunt force trauma to the head, according to Police Chief Greg Dagnan.

Dagnan said the body of Emalata "Emma" Hoeft has been transferred to Ulmer Funeral Home in Carthage where it will have to be determined who will have rights to conduct final arrangements for the toddler.

Her father, Albert Steven O'Connor, 26, 1915 Missouri Ave. is in custody in lieu of $200,000 bond on a charge of felony endangerment of a child for leaving the girl home alone several times before her death.

The girl's biological mother lives in Hawaii. She and her family want to claim the girl's body for final rites, the police chief said.

The father's girlfriend, Tearra Diane Olson, 20, who was identified as his fiancee, is in custody in lieu of $750,000 surety bond and/or $250,000 cash bond, formally charged with felony child abuse resulting in death.

A patholigist has ruled the manner of death as homicide, Dagnan said, though investigators won't know the extent of the girl's injuries or whether there is evidence of past physical abuse until they receive a written report of the autopsy findings.

Olson allegedly told investigators that the girl was fussy on Friday night, screaming, crying and refusing to eat her dinner about 6 p.m. and that Olson struck the girl's head against a hard surface three times, according to an affidavit by Detective Ben Vogt filed in Jasper County Circuit Court at Joplin. Olson said the girl was not breathing and she put the girl to bed and closed the door, where emergency responders found her dead at 8:08 a.m. Saturday after being called to the couple's home because the girl was unresponsive.

Olston had been working at Flexolator and O'Connor at Butterball.

Though O'Connor has not been charged in connection with the girl's death, his charge of child endangerment is the result of statements he allegedly made to police that the couple had left the toddler home alone four times last week while they worked.

O'Connor told them the girl was left alone in her room with a sippy cup of water from 9 a.m. to 2:45 p.m. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday, according to an affidavit by Detective Adam Blankenship.

"Our belief is that she died Friday night," Dagnan said.

The couple has no other children, he said. The father and biological mother had a custody agreement between themselves that allowed the child to be in his custody, according to the police chief. There was no history of police calls to the couple's home and they had lived in Carthage only a few months, coming there from California, Dagnan said.

Joint custody dad, fiancee charged in death of 2-year-old daughter; protective mother speaks out (Carthage, Missouri)

Due to the influence of fathers rights ideology, mothers are being pressured, brainwashed, and bullied into joint custody with fathers where there was never a marital relationship or even long-term committed relationship. That is insane in itself. But add a bullying, controlling violent father into the mix, a young child who cannot communicate with the mother, and thousands of miles of distance, and you have a recipe for disaster.

There is ZERO reason for a 2-year-old child being forced into joint custody. Young children need loving, consistent care by a primary caregiver. They do not need to be shipped from Hawaii to Missouri like so much freight.

Dad is identified as ALBERT STEVEN O'CONNOR.

See the Killer Dads and Custody list for Missouri.

http://www.carthagepress.com/article/20150902/NEWS/150909755/?Start=1

Mother speaks about girl killed in child abuse case

The mother of a two-year-old girl, found dead in a Carthage home had just last week booked a flight to Joplin to pick up the girl and take her to her home in Hawaii as part of a shared custody agreement she had with the baby's father.

By John Hacker Posted Sep. 2, 2015 at 9:41 AM

The mother of a two-year-old girl, found dead in a Carthage home had just last week booked a flight to Joplin to pick up the girl and take her to her home in Hawaii as part of a shared custody agreement she had with the baby's father.

Frida Hoeft hadn't seen little Emalata Hoeft since March in California.

“That was the last time I gave her the last hug and her last kiss and told her I'd be back for her soon,” Frida Hoeft said in a telephone interview with The Carthage Press. “Now I'm going to be back for her in a casket. It really sucks.”

What happened

Emalata Hoeft was found dead when Carthage fire, ambulance and police were called to the home at 1915 Missouri St. shortly after 8 a.m. Saturday for a medical call about an unresponsive child.

Medical personnel determined the child was dead and the man and woman in the home, who turned out to be the child's biological father and his fiancé, were questioned by police after they determined there was reason to believe the child's death was not natural causes.

Tearra Diane Olson, 20, and Albert Steven O'Connor, 26, were arrested on Saturday. #Olson was charged with the class A felony abuse or neglect of a child resulting in death, and is being held in the Jasper County Jail on a bond of $750,000 surety and $250,000 cash.

O'Connor was charged first degree endangering the welfare of a child and is being held on $200,000 bond cash or surety.

The probable cause affidavits, filed by Carthage police investigators to support the charges being sought against suspects, paint a picture of neglect turning into an explosion of physical abuse that resulted in the child's death.

CPD Det. Adam Blankenship said in the affidavit on O'Connor that O'Connor worked at the Butterball plant while Olson worked at Flex-o-Lators.

The affidavit alleges that O'Connor “left the two-year-old child at home alone while he and his fiancé were both at work, with no supervision and shut up in the child's bedroom with only a sippy cup of water to drink.”

The affidavit said this happened from 9 a.m. - 2:45 p.m. On Aug. 24, 25, 26 and 28.

The document also said a baby sitter who had cared for the child had not had her in her care since Aug. 21 because the babysitter was out of town.

Carthage Det. Ben Vogt wrote the affidavit in Olson's case.

 He said officers were called to the home at 8:08 a.m. Saturday for the report of an unresponsive child.

He said officers contacted Olson and O'Connor and found the child dead in the back bedroom of the home.

“Tearra Diane Olson was later interviewed and disclosed to an officer that she struck (name redacted) head 3 times on a hard surface at approximately (6 p.m.) on Aug. 28, 015,” the affidavit said. “Olson stated she struck E.H. Due to her screaming, crying and refusing to eat her dinner. (Name redacted) was not breathing and Olson then placed (name redacted) in her bed and closed the door.”

Carthage Police Chief Greg Dagnan said O'Connor was apparently not home at the time that Olson is alleged to have struck the child's head on the hard surface.

A mother grieves

Frida Hoeft said her daughter was the love of her life and and a very happy child.

“She was just a happy baby,” Friday Hoeft said. “She loved to dance, she loved to put smiles on people's faces, she loved to just laugh out of nowhere, she loved to play. She just loved everybody. She never put a frown on nobody's face.”

Frida Hoeft said she met Steven O'Connor in California and they had a brief relationship before Emalata was born.

Hoeft grew up in Hawaii, where her family lives, and had moved to “the states” on two occasions after graduation, once in 2010 and then in 2012 when she met O'Connor.

 Emalata was born in Sacramento and the relationship with O'Connor didn't last, but they were all living in California until early in 2015 when O'Connor announced he and his fiancé were moving to Missouri.

“Me and her father came to an agreement because he wanted to move to Carthage because his girlfriend, she apparently said her dad wanted them to move in,” Frida Hoeft said. “I said if you're going to move then I'm going to move with you or we're going to come to this agreement where we're going to share custody going back and forth with her. He said okay.”

The mother said O'Connor and Olson moved to Missouri and she returned to be with her family in Hawaii. Frida Hoeft said O'Connor and Olson moved to Carthage sometime in April and she tried to stay in contact with O'Connor, Olson and Emalata, but O'Connor made it difficult.

 “They didn't keep me updated, Steven tends to give me attitude,” Hoeft said. “He doesn't want to tell me nothing and he'll lie to me about everything. He wasn't terribly honest with me. My whole family lives here and I was supposed to pick her up this Friday and I had just booked my flight. I was flying to Joplin.”

Now Frida Hoeft and her family are planning Emalata's funeral. Frieda said she plans to bury Emalata in a cemetery in Pearl City, Hawaii.

“I have family and friends and unknown people that I do not know are helping me by fundraising to bring her home and to help her have the funeral she deserves,” Frida said. “That's my main goal now, just to make sure she's back here and she's going to have the best funeral she can have because she needs a beautiful funeral just like how she was and still is. She still lives on in my life and everyone's life down here.”

Dad gets 11 years for death of 5-week-old daughter (Vista, California)

Dad is identified as LEE TRAHAN.

http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/2015/aug/18/father-11-years-prison-baby-death-case-vista/

Father gets 11 years in baby death case
Defendant, who said child's injury was accidental, faced 25 years to life in prison

By Dana Littlefield | 2:08 p.m. Aug. 18, 2015 | Updated, 4:13 p.m.

VISTA — A father convicted of manslaughter in the death of his infant daughter three years ago was sentenced Tuesday to 11 years in prison.

A jury found Lee Trahan, 28, of Escondido guilty in February of voluntary manslaughter and assault on a child for causing the injuries that killed daughter Willow in 2012. The panel acquitted him of a second-degree murder charge.

Trahan, a former Marine who was stationed at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, contended in trial that he had accidentally banged Willow’s head against a door frame early one morning as he bent over to pick up a pacifier while holding his 5-week-old baby.

The District Attorney’s Office contended that Willow died as a result of abuse.

During the sentencing hearing Tuesday, attorneys on both sides of the case appeared to be operating under an understanding that Vista Superior Court Judge Harry Elias had only two options when it came to sentencing the defendant under the assault charge: probation or 25 years to life in prison.

Trahan’s lawyer, Brian J. White, argued that his client wasn’t someone who needed to be removed from society. Instead, he said, Trahan was a loving father with no previous criminal record, who had the strong support of his family.

“This is not somebody who’s dangerous,” White said.

Deputy District Attorney Michelle Ialeggio said she did not believe Trahan was “a monster,” and conceded that Trahan felt remorse over what happened to his daughter. But, the prosecutor said, evidence showed the baby was injured more than once while in her father’s care, and that the parents hesitated to seek immediate medical help on April 24, 2012, the day Trahan said he inadvertently hit the baby’s head.

#“He made the decision to sit there and wait until her body gave out…,” Ialeggio said.

Defense lawyers said the parents waited because Willow’s condition improved, but Ialeggio said it was because one of the baby’s injuries — a bruise or skin discoloration on her abdomen — had already drawn the attention of Child Protective Services earlier that month and they didn’t want to alert authorities again. The prosecutor said text messages exchanged between the couple support that contention.

Willow was rushed to a hospital three days after the door frame incident, after she stopped breathing. She died 10 days later.

The judge said it was the delay in seeking medical aid that helped him conclude that probation was inappropriate in this case, but a potential life sentence would be inappropriate as well.

Acknowledging that the prosecution might challenge his decision on appeal, Elias chose to sentence Trahan to an 11-year term on the manslaughter charge, and grant probation for the assault. The probation term will expire when Trahan is released from prison on parole.

“Ethically, I believe I’m doing the right thing,” said the judge, who denied a defense motion for a new trial before ordering the sentence.

Trahan will have to serve 85 percent of his prison term. He has credit for more than three years in custody.

The prosecutor argued in trial that Trahan and his wife, Jessica, were overwhelmed by the demands of caring for Willow and her twin brother, who were born six weeks premature. Citing testimony from a deputy medical examiner, the prosecutor said the blunt-force injuries Willow suffered, including a skull fracture and bruising on the brain, were too severe to be accidental.

Jessica Trahan was convicted of misdemeanor child neglect for failing to seek medical attention for Willow right away. At a previous hearing, the judge placed her on probation for four years and ordered her to complete 200 hours of community service.

Outside the courtroom Tuesday, White said Trahan was a “devoted husband and father,” and that what happened to his family was a tragedy, but would never happen again.

Dad charged with felony murder in death of 3-month-old son; "lewd acts" upon baby's 14-year-old moher (Santa Ana, California)

Dad is identified as JORDAN PETER MENDEZ.

http://www.ocregister.com/articles/mendez-673078-baby-mother.html

20-year-old dad facing murder charges in 3-month-old son's death

July 21, 2015 |Updated July 22, 2015 6:57 a.m.

Three-month-old Tristin Mendez died Monday afternoon after being on life support after he was found unresponsive on Friday. His father, 20-year-old Jordan Mendez, was arrested on charges of assault on a child resulting in great bodily injury or death.

BY ALMA FAUSTO / STAFF WRITER

A 20-year-old father who was arrested on suspicion of assaulting his three-month-old son who later died has been charged with murder.

Jordan Peter Mendez of Santa Ana was charged with one felony count of murder and another of committing lewd acts upon a child under the age of 14, a charge tied to the age of the girl who is the boy’s mother.

If convicted, he faces a maximum sentence of 33 years to life in prison, according to the Orange County District Attorney’s Office.

The charges stem from the death of Mendez’s son, Tristin, who was in his care for a few hours last Friday and found unresponsive with blunt force head trauma, according to prosecutors.

Tristin’s mother was Mendez’s 14-year-old girlfriend. The girl has been identified by family members, but the Register is withholding her name because she is a minor.

The baby’s aunt, Kristy Kelly, 29, who is sister to the 14-year old mother, said in an interview Tuesday that she was present the day of the incident.

Kelly said Mendez was watching the boy while the mother went to run an errand with her brother, who lives in a Santa Ana apartment.

Mendez, who was at the apartment, said he was going to walk to the nearby CVS pharmacy with the baby in a stroller.

Though the store is within an 8-minute walk of the apartment, Mendez didn’t return right away. After he didn’t return, Kelly and the baby’s mother, who were back in the apartment, went looking for Mendez, but didn’t find him.

“He was gone for 3 1/2 or four hours,” Kelly said. “When he came back (that night) he proceeded to lay the baby down (on the floor), change the diaper and not let (the mother) touch him.”

Mendez made Tristin a bottle so he could then put the baby in his crib.

The mother demanded he hand over the baby, and Mendez reportedly refused. Kelly said she did not have “a good feeling by the look on (Mendez’s) face.”

When the mother finally approached the normally active baby and touched him, she noticed he wasn’t breathing and was bruised on one side of his head.

Kelly saw that the boy, and the stroller he had been in, were “soaking wet.”

Kelly called 911. When authorities arrived, they performed CPR and took the baby to the hospital where he was placed on life support. He died Monday afternoon.

The homicide investigation is ongoing. An autopsy on the baby was completed Tuesday afternoon, but results were not immediately available.

Kelly said her sister and Mendez had a tumultuous relationship. Kelly said she believed the relationship was troubled by his heroin addiction and their age difference.

The district attorney’s office stated Tuesday afternoon that between June and August 2014 Mendez had a sexual relationship with the boy's mother while she was under the age of 14.

Mendez is being held in lieu of $1 million bail and his court appearance is scheduled for Aug. 14.