Grand Jury Investigates San Bernardino CFS
State Department of Justice Investigates San Bernardino County CFS
“We are looking more broadly than any one individual incident. We’re looking at the need for systemic reform and potential systemic breakdowns,” said Jill Habig, special counsel to the attorney general, on Wednesday. “The reason we’re disclosing this now is we’re at a point in the investigation where we need public engagement and input so we have a full, thorough and impartial investigation. We’re putting this out so people can contact us and provide information.”
2 Rialto police officers resign, 4 disciplined amid sex scandal investigation
- In September 2015, former social workers Eric Bahra and Mary Anna Whitehall filed separate lawsuits in San Bernardino Superior Court alleging whistleblower retaliation.
Bahra, who only worked for the county for 11 months, alleged he was fired after reporting 39 children, over the span of 12 years, being placed into a foster home where the father was accused in 2013 of sexually abusing some of the children, taking nude photographs of them and placing them in photo albums.
Whitehall alleges in her lawsuit that she was placed on administrative leave six days after she and two other social workers filed motions in juvenile dependency court alleging the Department of Children and Family Services committed fraud upon the court in order to discredit Bahra, which ultimately led to his termination.
But DCFS officials, Whitehall alleges, falsified evidence and told the court Bahra lied in his reports and breached confidentiality. They recommended the four surviving children be returned to their biological parents. By doing so, DCFS jeopardized the safety of the four children, Whitehall alleges.