OJAI : Mother Pleads Not Guilty to Child Abuse

An Ojai Valley woman who has been accused of starving her infant daughter to death pleaded not guilty to charges of felony child abuse in Ventura County Superior Court on Wednesday.

Pamela K. Rother entered the plea during a brief court session before Ventura County Judge Bruce Clark. Her trial will start June 12.

Two-month-old Rachael Catherine Rother died Feb. 22, but as of Wednesday, officials with the Ventura County medical examiner’s office said they had not yet determined the exact cause of the baby’s death.

Although Deputy Dist. Atty. Michael K. Frawley had wanted to bring murder and felony child-abuse charges against the 31-year-old Rother, a Ventura County grand jury returned an indictment Tuesday recommending just the felony child-abuse charges.

Rother’s case touched off concern about the ability of county social workers to manage their mounting caseloads properly.

James E. Isom, director of Ventura County’s Public Social Services Agency, said in an interview last month that social workers checked on Rother in January after receiving two anonymous calls questioning her fitness as a mother.

Isom said that county social workers never traveled to Rother’s small trailer north of Ojai because during the Jan. 12 evaluation they saw no signs that she was abusing her daughter and because heavy caseloads severely taxed workers’ time.

Isom has stood by the actions of his employees given the circumstances and the information they had about the case at the time they interviewed Rother.

Rother remains in Ventura County Jail in lieu of $100,000 bail.