Toolsview all


State fails to heed warning

 
By Randy Ellis | Published: March 16, 2008    Comment on this article Leave a comment

© Copyright 2008, The Oklahoman

POTEAU — DHS was warned.

More Info


JaJuan Flowers

Related content

Links

"I called them crying several times. I begged them not to put my children with those people,” said Melissa Castillo, 26, of Fort Smith, Ark.

"They're both awful people.”

DHS ignored the warnings.

Castillo's 4-year-old son, JaJuan Flowers, is now dead.

The boy's stepmother, Maria Torres-Vasquez, is charged with second-degree murder in his death.

His father, Beltan Vasquez, is serving a 12-year prison sentence for molesting another child in the home.

The Oklahoman looked into JaJuan's Dec. 11, 2006, death as part of its continuing investigation into children who have died or been abused in Oklahoma Department of Human Services custody. DHS spokesman George Johnson said it would be inappropriate for him to comment on why employees made the decisions they did in JaJuan's case.

‘What did DHS know?'
The cries of an anguished mother were not the only warnings Oklahoma Department of Human Services workers ignored when they placed Castillo's two children in the Vasquez home in 2006, records reveal.

They weren't even the strongest.

Because the Vasquez home was located across the eastern Oklahoma border in Arkansas, Oklahoma DHS workers had to ask their Arkansas counterparts to do a foster care home study.

Arkansas workers rejected the home.

Vasquez, 39, was an illegal immigrant, had been unemployed for more than a year and already had seven children in his home, Oklahoma child welfare workers were told.

Vasquez did not have a Social Security number, so a nationwide criminal background check could not be obtained, the report said.

The Arkansas officials also reported that Vasquez had been arrested on a domestic battery allegation in Arkansas two years earlier.

Oklahoma DHS workers already knew that. In 2004, an Arkansas police detective had called to inform them Vasquez had been arrested on a complaint of domestic violence against his then-girlfriend. The detective made the call because the girlfriend said Vasquez had "threatened to kill JaJuan's Oklahoma child welfare worker.”

Stepmom also a risk
Vasquez's 34-year-old wife also posed a risk.

Torres-Vasquez had a 1996 misdemeanor assault conviction out of Newport News, Va.

Page 1 of 2

Toolsview all



Related Topics: Crime, Criminal Assault, Crime and Law



Leave a Comment

Thank you for joining our conversation on NewsOK.com. We encourage your discussion but ask that you stay within the bounds of our commenting and posting policy. Please help by flagging comments that violate these guidelines. Posts that contain obscene or vulgar language will be immediately flagged and not posted.

If you prefer your thoughts to appear in The Oklahoman, we encourage you to submit a letter to the editor.

Would you like to leave a comment?

Log in or sign up (it's free).

comments powered by Disqus

Ads by Yahoo!

53yr Old Woman, Looks 25
Mom reveals simple wrinkle trick that has angered doctors...
www.ConsumerLifestyleMag.com
53-Year-Old Mom Looks 27
Follow this 1 weird tip and remove 20 years of wrinkles in 21 days.
SmartConsumerMagazine.com

News Photo Galleriesview all