Mother of 2 Dead Girls Not Charged

Prosecutors announced Thursday that they will not file criminal child endangerment charges against Jackie Robles, the mother of two young girls who were struck and killed by a Metrolink train last month.

The mother had tested positive after the accident for the use of methamphetamine, said Richard Maxwell, chief deputy in the San Bernardino County district attorney’s office.

But Maxwell said experts could not tell when Robles took the drugs, or what effect they had on her Oct. 21, when the toddlers wandered out of her Upland apartment and walked about half a block to the railroad tracks.

The case sparked widespread public debate over the responsibility of a mother in supervising her children.

“That’s wonderful news,” said Robles’ attorney, Chaim Magnum. His client--who is still trying to regain custody of her 2-month-old son--could not be reached for comment.

Robles, 21, had said she fed breakfast to her daughters--3-year-old Alexes Robles and 22-month-old Deziree Soto--and then joined them on the living room floor, where they watched television and she fell asleep.

The girls unlocked the front door of the apartment, Maxwell said. They then walked downstairs and--as several neighbors watched--ambled past other apartments and toward the tracks. According to one witness, the girls were tossing rocks on the track bed when a Metrolink train rounded the corner.

The engineer sounded the horn and put the train into emergency braking but was unable to stop. He said the older girl was trying to pull her half sister off the tracks when the train struck them.

Upland police took Robles in for questioning and later arrested her on suspicion of child endangerment. She was released two days later, when prosecutors said they needed more time to evaluate the case.

On Thursday, they dropped the case. While blood samples, taken from Robles after the accident, showed methamphetamine in her system, “the evidence was inconclusive. . . . We couldn’t tell how much she had taken, or when,” Maxwell said.

He noted that Upland police also observed “no objective symptoms” that she was under the influence of the illegal stimulant that day.

“We evaluated all of the evidence, as well as the law that applies to proof of gross negligence, and the probability that the case could be won at a jury trial,” Maxwell said.

He said there had been no reports of past abuse of the Robles children.

Public reaction to the tragedy had no bearing on the decision to drop the case, he said, nor did the question of whether a jury might feel sympathetic toward a mother who had traumatically lost two of her three children.

In a separate prepared statement, Maxwell’s office said it “makes no comment on the appropriateness of the suspect’s conduct or the quality of the child care being provided by Robles, only that a violation of criminal law cannot be proven.”

Robles is recovering slowly, Magnum said. “She’s still in a dazed condition, but little by little she’s picking up the pieces.”