Dad Wins Abuse Case

An Orange County jury on Tuesday awarded $4.1 million to a father who blamed the county for ignoring -- until it was too late -- his warnings that his 5-year-old daughter was being abused.

Raul Orozco testified that he complained repeatedly to the Orange County Social Services Agency that his daughter was being abused by his ex-wife and her boyfriend. The child, Jimena Correal Orozco, was eventually beaten to death.

Jurors, some of them moved to tears by the case, assigned 12% of the negligence for the child’s death to the Social Services Agency.

Most of the negligence was assigned to the girl’s mother, Claudia Correal, and her boyfriend, Ricardo Morentes. The ex-wife served one year in prison for child endangerment before being deported to Mexico. The boyfriend was convicted of murdering the girl and sentenced to 31 years to life.

Barring an appeal, the verdict means Orozco should get about $510,000 from the county and one of its social workers, Providencia Ramirez-Hull. The amount includes attorney fees, said Orozco’s attorney Yolanda Medina.

Orozco will probably not receive any of the remaining $3.6 million award because Morentes is in prison and Correal is in Mexico. Though they were defendants in the lawsuit, they were never served with copies of the lawsuit and did not attend the proceedings.

Angelo Doti, director of the Social Services Agency, declined to comment on the verdict. County Risk Manager Sharon Lightholder said she, an attorney and top county officials will review the decision and the county’s legal options.

In a similar case, the Orange County Grand Jury in May said a lack of communication among county agencies and police prevented them from recognizing a pattern of abuse that led to the death of a 13-month-old Anaheim girl two years ago.

In that case, the girl’s mother, Jacquelyn Starr Gutierrez, was sentenced to eight years in prison for child abuse. She pleaded guilty to neglecting her daughter, Samantha Gutierrez, to the point that the baby starved to death. County agencies had repeatedly been alerted to the child’s condition.

Orozco’s daughter died Nov. 16, 2000, after repeated beatings. An autopsy revealed that her pancreas and small intestine were ruptured. She suffered vaginal tears, a black eye and numerous cuts and bruises.

Orozco started noticing bruises and scratches on Jimena in early 2000, he testified. From June 10, 2000, to Aug. 23, 2000, Orozco and the girl’s therapist contacted social workers and police at least five times to report physical and sexual abuse, according to testimony.

Social workers and police investigated the allegations with home visits but did not take the girl into protective custody.

Orozco said that when the mother moved away, leaving no forwarding address, he called the Social Services Agency and police to report his daughter missing. He said social service workers ignored him, while Placentia police referred him to Anaheim police.

Meanwhile, Correal had contacted the agency and said she was living at a Beach Boulevard motel in Anaheim. But that information was never shared with Orozco, who said Social Services never sent a social worker to check on his daughter’s welfare.

The little girl was later found dead in a parking lot outside an Anaheim grocery store.

For jurors, the seven-week trial was emotionally rugged.

Fred Birch, 45, of Huntington Beach said the evidence was agonizing to absorb. By the end of the trial, Birch said, he was dreaming about the case, even envisioning Orozco accompanying his daughter to a playground.

The key for Birch was the “timeline of mistakes” on the part of the county, he said. County welfare workers knew the mother’s location but never notified child protective services, which was looking for the mother, Birch said.

“There were mistakes made in different levels of social services where one side was going after her and didn’t know where the mother was, while the other side knew where she was and didn’t do anything,” Birch said.

Jurors agreed that most of the blame for the girl’s death rested with her mother and the boyfriend, said juror Tom Harris, 48, of Seal Beach. “The county had responsibility, and it was a tough decision to find out how much,” he said.

While the verdict didn’t provide a clear victory for Orozco, it did vindicate Orozco’s opinions about the county’s role in the death of his daughter, said Raymond Brown, Orozco’s co-counsel.

“We feel vindicated that now everyone responsible for Jimena’s death has been held accountable,” Brown said. “It will make a difference to future cases of involving abuse of children.”