It’s Father vs. O.C. in Girl’s Death

Short of kidnapping his 5-year-old daughter, Raul Orozco does not know what else he could have done to save the girl from the sexual and physical abuse that finally killed her.

Jimena Correal Orozco’s sad life was already over by Nov. 16, 2000, when her mother’s boyfriend parked his pickup in the parking lot of an Anaheim supermarket and asked passersby for help. Rigor mortis had already begun to set in the little girl’s body.

The child had been beaten repeatedly and had suffered a long, agonizing death, an autopsy showed. Her pancreas and small intestine were ruptured. She suffered vaginal tears, a black eye and numerous cuts and bruises.

Orozco blames social workers at the Orange County Social Services Agency for contributing to his daughter’s death, saying they failed to act on his repeated complaints that the child was being abused by her mother and the boyfriend.

The boyfriend, Ricardo Morentes, was eventually convicted of murder and sentenced to 31-years-to-life in prison. The mother, Claudia Correal, was deported to Mexico after serving one year of a four-year sentence for child endangerment.

Today, one week after the Orange County Grand Jury issued a report critical of the Social Services Agency’s failure to protect a 13-month-old girl who died from child abuse two years ago, Jimena’s death will be the focus of a civil court case that is eerily similar.

Orozco, who turned down a $10,000 offer from the county to settle the suit, alleges that the very people charged with looking out for the welfare of children fell down on the job.

“I am completely disillusioned with the system. They never paid attention to me when I asked them for help,” Orozco said. “I did everything I could without breaking the law.”

Social Services Agency officials declined to comment on Jimena’s death and referred calls to attorneys David J. Brobeck and Glen A. Stebens, who are representing the county. They did not return telephone calls, but in a legal response to the lawsuit deny any culpability in the girl’s death.

The lawsuit, which accuses the Social Services Agency of acting with malice and of failing to protect Jimena, seeks unspecified damages. Orozco said he married Correal in Mexico in 1994. The five years they spent together were made difficult by Correal’s temper, especially when she was drinking, he said. In 1999, Orozco was convicted on a misdemeanor count of domestic abuse, an incident that he said resulted from an argument with his wife. When they separated later that year, the couple and their two daughters, Jimena and Sabrina, now 4, were renting a room in a house in Stanton. Morentes and his parents rented the garage, which had been converted to a bedroom.

After the couple split up, Correal and Morentes began renting a bedroom from a couple in Placentia. Correal took the girls with her, and Orozco would meet her on weekends at a store in Stanton, where he would give her $100 for child support. Orozco said he gave his estranged wife the child support payments voluntarily and was able to keep the children on weekends.

“I was concerned about my daughters. If they couldn’t live with me all the time, at least I knew they had money for food,” said Orozco, a machine operator. He has been granted custody of Sabrina, who lives with him in Anaheim.

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

Authorities investigated the complaints but allowed Jimena to remain with Correal and Morentes. A Placentia police spokeswoman said officers interviewed Jimena but took no further action when the girl said she suffered the cuts on her face when she jumped out of bed.

Orozco said his last contact with his daughter and Correal was Aug. 13, 2000, when he gave Correal what turned out to be the last child-support payment. After that, he said, they dropped out of sight.

Orozco said he called the Social Services Agency and Placentia police a short time later to report his daughter missing. The police told him to contact Anaheim police, which he did. He said he also contacted social workers, who he claimed ignored him. The therapist also called the agency to report Jimena missing and again expressed concern that she was being sexually abused.

Finally, on Aug. 28, social workers reported that they heard from Correal, who contacted the agency to say she was living at a Beach Boulevard motel in Anaheim.

But according to court records, the Social Services Agency never sent a social worker to check on Jimena’s welfare and did not tell Orozco where Correal and his children were staying. On Nov. 16, 2000, Orozco said he got an unexpected telephone call from Correal, who called from a Santa Ana location. “ ‘Jimena is dead.’ That’s all she said,” said Orozco. “She never offered an explanation.”

The little girl was cremated. Still unsure of the circumstances that had led to his daughter’s death -- and because criminal charges had not yet been filed -- Orozco said he agreed to give her half of their daughter’s ashes.

“I have no idea where she is. I just don’t care to know,” he said of his estranged wife.

Orozco was equally bitter when he talked about the circumstances surrounding his daughter’s death.

“The authorities had many chances to help Jimena and save her life,” he said. “Nobody would listen to me.”