By Mark Gutglueck
Posted on July 16, 2016
A backlog of evidence and witnesses being accumulated by investigators with the California Attorney General’s Office looking into criminal acts and negligence in San Berardino County’s Children and Family Services Department implicates San Bernardino District Attorney Mike Ramos and one of his employees, deputy district attorney Michael Dauber in an effort to obstruct justice, information provided by some of those witnesses shows.
Among the witnesses having already provided or poised to provide information that Ramos and Dauber moved to terminate the 2015-16 San Bernardino County Grand Jury’s inquiry into abuse of children by their guardians and foster parents, including cases in which children died while under the purview of Bernardino County Children and Family Services Department, is the former San Bernardino County Superior Court presiding judge who has since been elevated to the State Appellate Court, as well as Children and Family Services Department case workers who sought to bring the incidents of abuse to light.
Going back as early as 2013, there were rumblings within the San Bernardino County Children and Family Services Department about both abusive biological parents as well as abusive foster parents entrusted with the care of children who were in the process of being placed for adoption. In several cases, those Children and Family Services Department employees’ concerns were not adequately addressed. Complicating the issue were the confidentiality restrictions imposed on the case files, making it difficult for those with concerns to bring the issues out into the open or to the attention of others outside the department for some means of resolution.
The San Bernardino County Grand Jury’s annual session runs in accordance with the governmental fiscal year, from July 1 to June 30. Late in the 2014-15 term, information was provided to the grand jury relating to the circumstance pertaining to the abuse of children under the Children and Family Services Department’s supervision. Because those reports arrived so late in the grand jury’s term, no official inquiry into the matter was opened, and the 2014-15 Grand Jury, which had as its adviser deputy district attorney Charles Umeda, made no reference to those issues in the final grand jury report, which was released on June 30/July1, 2015. At the end of July 2015, Umeda was appointed to serve as a Superior Court judge by Governor Jerry Brown. To replace Umeda, district attorney Mike Ramos selected deputy district attorney Michael Dauber to serve as grand jury adviser.
A member of the 2014-15 Grand Jury was James Wiebeld, who had retired as a sheriff’s deputy after a 30-year career in law enforcement. Wiebeld was a holdover to the 2015-16 Grand Jury, which after its ranks filled out, elected him sergeant-at-arms. Wiebeld sought to have the grand jury maintain its focus on several issues that had been taken up by the 2014-15 grand jury, which had in his view not been sufficiently resolved or reported in the 2014-15 Grand Jury’s report. Among those issues was that pertaining to the abuse of children under the purview of San Bernardino County Children and Family Services.
What Wiebeld and other grand jurors encountered, the Sentinel has been told, at first consisted of Dauber’s subtle effort to steer the grand jury away from the subject. When grand jurors persisted, Dauber used progressively firmer and eventually much harsher methods to discourage the investigation, ultimately resulting in the blunting of the investigation’s focus and its shift away from the nonfeasance, misfeasance and malfeasance within the Children and Family Services Department that allowed the criminal abuse and even deaths of some of the children at the hands of their parents and guardians to take place.
The failure of Children and Family Services to step in and stem the abuse was of moment with higher ranking elements in the county because attorneys had already been in contact with the families of some of the abused children and had initiated cases on behalf of those children and their families or were in the process of doing so.
To Ramos, who has striven to remain on favorable terms with both the county’s political establishment and its senior administrators, and to Dauber, who is answerable to Ramos, Wiebeld’s established status as a grand jury leader able to influence at least a handful of his colleagues on the panel heightened concern that they might be faced with a rogue grand jury that would take the focus on abused and dead children in a direction that could prove monetarily costly for the county.
That discomfort grew into a state of alarm, when on August 27, 2015, Fox 11 News in Los Angeles reported that “children who were under the supervision of the San Bernardino County Department of Children and Family Services … were being abused, tortured, and killed.” According to that report, in certain cases, children had been entrusted to foster parents who had previously been caught abusing children living in their homes. In one of those cases, according to Fox 11, a child had died at the hand of an abusive foster parent after the San Bernardino County Department of Children and Family Services was made aware of the sadistic nature of that foster parent. The Fox 11 News report made reference to an ongoing grand jury investigation.
The following day, Friday August 28, a special meeting was convened at the county administrative building which was attended by county executive officer Greg Devereaux, district attorney Mike Ramos, the director of Children and Family Services, Marlene Hagen, and a handful of other high level county officials. The primary topic discussed, the Sentinel was told by a reliable source, was the formulation of a cover story and talking points calculated to defuse the issue of negligence in the San Bernardino County Children and Family Services Department which led to the deaths of children in the foster parent system it oversaw.
To read expanded article, click here.
Is Kamala Harris turning on Ramos? This will get interesting, especially since people seem more than willing to talk about it. Kenneth Holtz, I look forward to your comments.
It’s time for Ms Harris to show real leadership …indict Ramos, Dauber and Slough, and Devereaux.
Doubt it will happen though because she’s in bed with them all.
The hero is Wimbledon.
The hero is Wiebeld, not Wimbledon.
doesnt surprise me and that is NOT their ( DA and underling) first rodeo
Interesting article.
Now let’s cut through the BS and reality.
What has Mike Ramos done to hopefully remove the appearance of conflict in recent prosecutions? Ramos asked the Attorney General to prosecute the case. Specifically former BOS member Neil Derry and the Colonies.
Now we are to believe the Attorney General would actually file charges on Mike Ramos or his DDA? Are you kidding me when the AG is neck deep with the Colonies prosecution that has growing problems?
Why didn’t Mike Ramos ask the FBI to investigate CFS?
Who thinks the AG just MIGHT be covering the DA in HOPES the FBI won’t step into this investigation?????
Who thinks the prosecution of the 3 Deputies in the Pusok matter was done in HOPES the FBI won’t get involved in that?
Does anyone find it odd the Feds have the jail scandal under their control and Ramos has the Pusok case? You think those cops in the Pusok case are going to prison? I think not BY DESIGN.
Do you find it odd the AG is ONLY looking at the CFS issue? If the AG looked at ALL the Grand Jury issues it surely would not help Mike Ramos.
It took the AG a YEAR to announce an investigation and it they were looking for more witnesses?
Funny how the FBI served subpeonas on the Sheriff.
I would think the AG knows how to do the same.
It appears the DA and AG are running a game against the FBI.
What makes this whole scam stink is the head of the CFS still has a job.
It appears “failure to supervise” only applies to mid level supervisors in this county?
At least one Federal Judge doesn’t think so and rejected former Sheriff Lee Baca’s plea agreement.
Is the AG looking for a couple rank and file employees to hang out to dry?
Thank you #5, I didn’t think she would turn on her hugging bestie. She just picked up the President’s endorsement. She probably is scampering to hide her dirty laundry.
This may be the actual crime of the century. If you ignore that Lee Baca thing.
Kenny, didn’t James Mills say a while back that the FBI did NOT serve the sherrif? Or am I confusing cases. Or am I just confused?
Steve yes Mills said no subpeonas were served on the Sheriff and we were all idiots.
Just another of his strike out performances we have come to love.
The Sheriff, TWO additional Executive Staff members, the head of the Internal Affairs Division WERE SERVED subpeonas by FBI.
Total subpeonas served 40.
Looks like the fun begins.
Link: http://www.sbsun.com/general-news/20160718/san-bernardino-county-da-mike-ramos-named-president-of-national-group
Least likely events to occur:
1) Dennis Hansberger admits that the decision to hire a convicted felon to run the SBIA was a mistake.
2) Repairman admits that his Jeff Burum has two passports theory was totally preposterous.
3) Kamala Harris prosecutes Mike Ramos for anything.
Inside info says to date no whistleblower, present or former grand jury member has been interviewed. This should answer any questions you may have on how much credence you can put on this investigation. This investigation was a joke, always will be a joke and will never change. Again another B/S story to get her name in the paper for her own benefit. ” Look what I am doing public, now vote for me because I really care.”
Are there any steps that a politician would not stoop to so that they could get elected? Maybe Ms. Harris needs to look at the pictures on Channel 11 again to refresh her memory on how important this issue is. But let her get elected and then she will pose with Mikey for a photo op and tell everyone that they checked into this issue and you can move along folks there’s nothing to see here.
Some of the subpeonas served are for a civil rights violation investigation regarding a use of force involving a retired captains son and the cover-up by a current captain, who was one of the original shark’s from the 90’s.
Don’t forget the days when Mike Ramos did multiple press releases on JOINT TASK FORCE investigations with the FBI.
When was the last time you read about that?
It was obvious during the mass shooting in San Bernardino that the FBI pulled Mikey’s political platform out from under him by taking over the investigation within 48 hours.
Mikey’s next blunder was his THEORY on what was inside that IPhone the FBI was trying to unlock.
Don’t care what you say Mikey was left out in the cold on that entire incident.
So the AG getting involved in the CFS investigation can be nothing less than smoke and mirrors.
#10 you don’t think those people back in Boston have a clue what Mikey’s doing back here do you? Ramos’s real challenges have yet to come. Ramos has ****** **** more ***** than convicted crooks. Maybe that’s why he got the position.
I completely agree with Kenny on all counts. Harris will do nothing in regards to Ramos, he probably has some naked pictures of her. Oh and way to go BTM! (Buddy The Man)
#14, McMahon too was sidelined during the Dec 2 incident. I am still trying to understand how local law enforcement spend 20 million dollars. Especially since the case was taken over by the federal government.
Now I get it. They are saving the grand jury members and the whistleblowers for the last. You know they will turn them into the focus of the investigation. Once interviewed they will turn the interviews over to Mikey and he will file criminal charges against them for talking and releasing confidential information. This AG is one smart cookie.
I am a little confused here. Am I understanding this correct. The former San Bernardino County Superior Court presiding judge is going to, or already has, provided information to the AG that Ramos and Dauber were attempting to interfere with the investigation.
What happen did she have a change of heart? She replaced the juror attempting to bring this issue to the attention of the public and address it like it should have been addressed.
When she was told that the juror was disruptive did she bother to summon other jurors to her office to get their opinion as to what was going on? It does not sound like it. Something smells like a 1-week old dead fish here. Is the judge selling out Ramos, Dauber and the other individual?
I know this is hard to believe but did Ramos, Dauber and the other juror lie to the judge? Or was she just too lazy to check the issues out and took them at their word and now is not wanting to look like the inapt moron that she is.
And I was advised that the juror who was relieved was not the Sgt at Arms but was the Foreman Pro Tem, second in charge of the grand jury so I am sure that he did have a following. Sources say that he was Sgt at Arms of the 2014/2015 grand jury.
Knowing the way these people work the replaced juror was probably more intelligent than Dauber and Ramos put together and they could not take it so they lied, (I know that’s really hard to believe) and he was dismissed.
If that happened I would love to be a fly on the wall in that judges office to get her reaction.
@14 you’re right on McMahon.
I bet serious money if me and you looked at that $20 million claim we would find some SERIOUS tweeking of costs.
@13 let’s put your comment into a very CLEAR perspective so others will know the magnitude of Captain Sam Lucias BULLSHIT.
We are talking about Sam Lucia the former SHARK and born again Christian. What a combo for hypocrisy at the end of the day. How do I know this. Personal observation for most of my comments. The remaining information comes from victims of these crooked cops.
We are talking about retired Sheriffs Captain Cliff Raynolds son.
I remember Raynolds kid hanging out at Victorville station like it was yesterday. Raynolds was a Lieutenant working for Captain Glenn Pratt. Sam Lucia was a patrol Sergeant.
Some where around that time Lucia becomes the Administration Sergeant and is now Raynolds butler.
Eventually Pratt got promoted and Captain Mark Taylor takes over. So there are two people the FBI should talk to right there. Time is 2004/2005. They should have known about some of this nonsense.
Raynolds kid is riding at least once or twice a week with a couple of the stations knuckle draggers. When I worked the DUI cover car and came to work, I occasionally walked into a Explorer meeting about to take place. Raynolds kid was always there even though he wasn’t a Explorer.
After about a year Raynolds kid suddendly disappears. Lt. Raynolds just happens to tell me his kid has joined the Air Force. Hmmm???
It turns out Raynolds kid is having sex with a underage Explorer and has to get out of town while his dad covers up the scandal.
After a couple years Raynolds kid puts in a application for SBSD. Despite the fact his kid cannot pass the polygraph he gets hired.
It’s not long after Raynolds kid hits the street he is involved in a shooting. I have no information on the circumstances. Raynolds kid eventually gets to Victorville station now under command of Sam Lucia.
The incident with Raynolds kid hitting a handcuffed prisoner in the head with a flashlight eventually makes it way into the blogs.
It happened and was covered up. SBSD gave Raynolds kid their standard written reprimand. Good job Lucia and Billings.
Captain Raynolds has a small following of KOOL-Aid drinkers but was DEFINATELY not liked by the Sergeants I worked around.
When Raynolds wasn’t chasing women he was screwing with the troops and micro managing whatever.
His trying to pick up on Deputies wife’s or girlfriends became quite obvious over time. Old Cliff Raynolds had a serious drinking problem. So at station functions you might find him intoxicated and his lust got the better of him.
But if the boyfriend or husband of one of Raynolds victims challenged his conduct they to suffered the wrath if they were a employee. Raynolds was in SERIOUS need of a ass whooping. Still is.
As to Lucia it’s outrageous in order to become a Shark member you have to BEAT a Africa American as part of your initation.
Worst yet when you become a Sergeant in Internal Affairs you are suddendly concerned about a Deputy who flicks a non responsive drunk in the ear with your finger to get his attention.
So Lucia you and the idiots who follow your lead have NOTHING coming if the FBI inserts a microscope up your arse.
I just wonder if Lucia has to go to church more than once a week to confess his sins?
I hope the motor cops punk you hard Lucia, you earned it.
By the way Cliff Raynolds wasn’t very brave when he was behind closed doors one on one either. Imagine that!
You keep fixing those tickets Lucia and being a loyal company man.
MAYBE I’ll have a front row seat at your sentencing in the immediate future. Maybe Rick Roelle can appear as a character witness for you.
God bless!
My goodness what an imagination! And then the captain went to Area 51 where he was seen excercising and drinking with an alien. LOL. God bless.
Mills too bad your testicles aren’t as big as your mouth.
Dont hold your breath about these so called investigations. I seriously doubt anything will come of it.
24 so all these investigation are going to be unfounded?
#25, there are a lot of pretend investigations. They “investigate” to run out a legal clock, or until the public has forgotten and they can then drop it. They “investigate” to cover someone’s a** so nobody can say they dropped the ball. There are probably more “investigations” of this sort than legitimate ones.
@26 if you’re referring to in house investigations you’re absolutely right. The “we investigated ourselves and found no wrong doing” is alive and well, as some in the public like to say.
The POST scandal was a SLIGHT exception to that. Selective personnel were targeted to CYA for others.
As to the AG and CFS scandal I would again agree. But that entire press release was for the uninformed and unknowing. Will it work? Most likely.
As to the FBI, I would NOT agree at all, at this time.
Whatever SBSD, the DA, and AG thinks they can do to cover themselves, the Feds can undo it if they choose to.
Remember those cops and Rodney King. The cops were acquitted and the Feds turned around and prosecuted them successfully.
We again saw it with LASD, that was epic.
There is far more trash to sweep up around here than in LA.
Could Kamela Harris meet with Loretta Lynch on her plane at SBIA? Of course.
25. When i actually see some charges that come from these suppossed investigations then i will believe.
Ken not sure you know any of the people involved in the grand jury investigation but is it possible that they had found something and the DA like this article says replaced them?
@27, I was referring to the state and local level. I think they all cover for each other, regardless of party, which I think most people would find surprising. One only has to look at Ramos and his huggy friend Kamala Harris to see it in action. I agree the FBI is different. I was told in a phone discussion with someone in the Riverside office that they only look into what they are willing to prosecute. I took that to mean it needs to be big and important enough. So, while I find Harris’ office investigations to be at the minimum worthy of skepticism, I think it is probably making more than a few people very nervous to have the FBI issuing subpoenas on the other issues.
@29 there is no question some were replaced because they looked beyond what was wanted by certain officials.
@30 of course they will it was done long before this issue came up. Rest assured people are nervous. When you have a couple decades of misdeeds out there one has a lot to worry about.
@28 don’t you think that goes without saying?
The corrupt ones just don’t know when the next scandal will pop up on the blogs and now they don’t know if a couple of FBI Agents will knock on their door at home or show up at their office.
It’s been a joy to see certain officials spin their story and see it fall apart when a lawsuit pops up that says otherwise. We have seen how many lawsuit fought in open court? ZERO.
County officials have a lot to worry about because they have screwed over so many citizens and employees.
Karma is coming just a matter of time.
Administrative behavior is a masquerade for a deeper issue involving engineered child deaths very much in vogue with the Mountain Meadows massacre.
People aren’t looking much past the surface in these circumstances. San Bernardino has a David O. McKay look alike for a mayor. Sheriff John McMahon is a ringer for the father of 1951 Cincinnati abduction victim, Beverly Potts. DA Mike Ramos looks like Beverly Potts older sister, Anita. Worst still, McKay’s grandson looks like Anita Potts daughter.
This demon administration is involved in far more than racketeering child death coverups. There’s a statist administrative mechanism in place that is likewise testing it’s prowess against ROLA morality and ethics, the latter failing to recognize a heuristic so radical and evil it’s beyond ordinary imagination and hiding in plain sight> Mormon church and it’s Baphomet deity, Moroni.
The child deaths are occult celebratory made to appear domestic on the same application LDS elite use to masquerade their faith noble cause religion. LDS is actually a hybrid breeding project, child deaths an opportunity to solidarity pledge frat alliances and capture DNA for cloning. It’s kind of complicated, but it’s just the way they do things, mainstream administration as much a herding phenomenon as the insouciant community which surrounds leadership with a zombie population that will never fully realize what is happening.
Meanwhile, Ramos and Dauber are frat pups and doing exactly what they are told by their handlers to keep this going. So did Richard Allen Davis, which is why he is still alive on death row. These people are very evil, and Mayor Carey Davis is the tip of THIS ice berg, not lesser demon Mike Ramos.
In fact, if this county wants to get it’s dignity back, take a closer look at Gary Evan Baugh, since he’s the alpha Lucifer and controls the surrounding and adjacent 33 counties to the Redlands LDS temple.
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