Polygamous leader will stay behind bars until fraud trial

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LOS ANGELES (AP) — 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, were also charged with falsifying public records. An arrest warrant filed March 28 identifies them as Stefanie Rodriguez, 30, Patricia Clement, 65, Kevin Bom, 36, and Gregory Merritt, 60. They were scheduled to be arraigned Thursday, and it wasn't immediately known if they had obtained attorneys. Prosecutors were seeking bail of $155,000 apiece. The four were charged in connection with the death of Gabriel Fernandez, who died May 24, 2013, of injuries that included a fractured skull, broken ribs and burns across his body. The boy'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. If convicted of child abuse and falsifying records, the social workers could face as much as 10 years in prison. "Social workers play a vital role in society. We entrust them to protect our children from harm," District Attorney Jackie Lacey said Thursday in announcing the charges. "When their negligence is so great as to become criminal, young lives are put at risk." The Department of Children and Family Services had opened a case file on Gabriel on Oct. 31, 2012, more than six months before he died, and Lacey said it was the social workers' responsibility to protect him. 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, the 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.

4 social workers charged after boy's beating death