Boy was subject of ’05 claim

More than a year before a boy was allegedly subjected to extreme abuse and torture, Los Angeles County officials in 2005 investigated allegations that he suffered from neglect and was at “substantial risk.” But officials ultimately determined the claims to be inconclusive, according to county records obtained by The Times.

At the time, the boy’s mother, Starkeisha Brown, had been arrested on suspicion of stealing a bracelet and other items at a Macy’s department store with the child in tow. The boy stayed with his grandmother while his mother served about nine months in jail -- and the Department of Children and Family Services closed the case file, never returning to check on the boy, the records show.

Brown reunited with him last year, beginning what the Los Angeles Police Department described as “unbearable psychological and physical abuse,” including cigarette burns on his body and genitals, near-starvation and beatings.

The details, contained in a DCFS report prepared for Los Angeles County supervisors this week, prompted some officials to ask why social workers didn’t have more contact with the family after that initial visit.

“When I read what happened, it seemed like the system broke down on a number of levels, whether it’s the criminal justice system, the welfare system or child services,” Councilwoman Janice Hahn said. “It seems to me there were a lot of red flags.”

Hahn, whose district includes the South Los Angeles neighborhood where the abuse allegedly occurred, said the boy’s plight speaks to a larger problem.

“I couldn’t believe it,” added Supervisor Yvonne Burke. “Our system has to be just tighter. . . . This is a time when we really have to be vigilant. We need to figure out how we can get the ability to find and track down these people.”

Police said Brown, 24, and her live-in girlfriend Krystal Matthews, 21, committed the bulk of the abuse. According to one allegation, the 5-year-old was hung by his hands and wrists from a door jamb and whipped with some sort of leash or chain.

The women were arrested over the weekend and each charged with one count of torture and conspiracy, as well as other charges of child abuse, corporal injury to a child and dissuading a witness. Brown’s and Matthews’ bails were set at $1.1 million and $1.08 million, respectively. If convicted, they face 25 years to life in prison.

La Tanya Monikue Jones, 26, a baby-sitter who authorities said disfigured the boy’s hands by burning them on a stove, was also arrested this week and charged with conspiracy to dissuade a witness, corporal injury to a child and child abuse.

Authorities said Jones let her 4-year-old son and her daughter, about 6, go with Brown and Matthews to a meeting with DCFS officials last week in an attempt to trick them into thinking there was no abuse in their home.

DCFS officials have declined to comment on specifics of the case, citing confidentiality rules, but said they get involved only if a problem is reported.

But the confidential report paints a much more detailed and complex picture of the agency’s involvement with Brown and her son.

Los Angeles County child welfare authorities first met the boy in November 2005, when officials received at least one report on a hotline expressing concern about his welfare. Details of the call were not contained in the report.

About that time, the county also got a call about the boy from Brown’s parole agent. Brown was in custody after being arrested on suspicion of shoplifting, and someone was going to have to look after the boy.

Brown had been released on parole about four months earlier after serving more than a year in prison for robbing an elderly woman and was again on her way to jail. Investigators found the claims of neglect to be “inconclusive” and released the boy to his grandmother, according to the report.

The boy’s grandmother told investigators she intended to become his legal guardian, the DCFS report said. But Brown took the child back some time after she was released from prison in January 2007, according to authorities.

Police detectives say Brown then subjected the boy to ritualistic abuse and torture while evading law enforcement and receiving welfare benefits.

Three months after Brown was released from prison in January 2007, her parole was revoked and a bench warrant was issued for her arrest. Authorities apparently could not find her -- even though she was receiving welfare benefits at the time.

Supervisor Gloria Molina said the boy’s plight would be the first case of the Children’s Special Investigation Unit, which was set up to independently review and scrutinize DCFS cases.

Molina said that city, state and county agencies were all “pointing the finger at each other” over who was to blame.

According to the confidential report, Brown received treatment from the Department of Mental Health about 10 years ago, and a substance abuse assessment was conducted with a community agency shortly after her child was born.

“However, no services were provided as the mother did not follow through,” the report stated.

Jones, the baby-sitter, had lengthy dealings with DCFS, according to the report. When she was arrested for possession of narcotics in March 2003, she left her then 11-month-old baby at a hotel with a stranger. The baby was taken into protective custody two days after the arrest for “caretaker absence/incapacity” but later released.

Both of Jones’ children are in protective custody, police said.

Matthews also has a criminal history, including convictions for assault with a deadly weapon and forgery. In May, she got into a fight with her younger brother, slashing him on the face with a box-cutter. She pleaded guilty and was released on three years’ probation.

DCFS officials would not respond to direct questions about the abuse of Starkeisha Brown’s son, citing confidentiality, but said there had been no open case involving him and that they were alerted to the most recent alleged abuse only early this month.

According to the report, on June 3, Brown, another woman and Brown’s son were at a Green Line train station when the child told another person, “She put my hand on top of the stove.” The person who called DCFS said the boy “appeared hungry and stated that he had not eaten.”

After they received the tip, child welfare officials made three attempts to contact Brown and Matthews at their residence. In the first instance, they were given an incorrect address. After they had the right location, they made two unannounced visits but were unable to find the women and left a note.

The women eventually showed up at the DCFS office in Compton for a scheduled interview. According to authorities, the women first dropped off the 5-year-old with a stranger and took Jones’ 4-year-old son to the interview.

Hahn said she was going to urge supervisors to take a thorough look at how the county protects its children.

“We hear problem after problem after problem. When is it going to be enough? It’s a shame it takes something like this to make us hold departments accountable,” Hahn said. “It is up to us to protect our children, and we failed this child terribly.”

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ari.bloomekatz@latimes.com

andrew.blankstein@latimes.com