Los Angeles County District Attorney Jackie Lacey announced today that two county social workers and two supervisors were scheduled to be arraigned today on felony charges in the 20-13 beating and torture death of 8-year-old Gabriel Fernandez of Palmdale.
Social workers Stefanie Rodriguez and Patricia Clement and supervisors Kevin Bom and Gregory Merritt each face felony counts of child abuse and falsifying records, prosecutors said
The 30-year-old Rodriguez and 65-year-old Clement face charges they falsified reports that should have shown signs of Gabriel’s escalating physical abuse at the hands of his mother, Pearl Fernandez, and her then-boyfriend Isauro Aguirre.
The 36-year-old Bom and 60-year-old Merritt face charges they should have known they were approving the false reports.
If convicted, each of the four defendants could be sentenced to as much as 10 years in state prison.
Fernandez and Aguirre both are serving state prison sentences of life without the possibility of parole for inflicting fatal injures on Gabriel that included a fractured skull, broken ribs and burns. The pair’s sentencing followed a plea deal they made in 2014 to avoid a potential death sentence.
An investigation revealed that at times over an eight-month period preceding his death, Gabriel — among other instances of violent abuse — was doused with pepper spray, forced to eat his own vomit and locked in a closet with a sock stuffed in his mouth to muffle his screams.
