"This overall lawsuit is about a long-term injustice that has happened to the Pettus family. it's really just been a series of disastrous events that have occurred,"Antonio Castillo, Chief Trial Counsel of DRE APC, said. In September, Charles Pettus, the biological father of Orrin and Orson west...
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Father of Cal City missing boys files lawsuit against Kern County, state of California
"This overall lawsuit is about a long-term injustice that has happened to the Pettus family. it's really just been a series of disastrous events that have occurred," Antonio Castillo, Chief Trial Counsel of DRE APC, said.
In September, Charles Pettus, the biological father of Orrin and Orson west and Brenda Pettus, Charles's Grandmother, filed a lawsuit against Kern County and the state of California. The suit alleges child protective services negligently and wrongfully placed Orrin and Orson with people outside of friends and family, which ended up being Trazelle and Jacqueline west.
"When it came time for the Wests to try to adopt the children, the Pettus family was not given a chance to take the kids back," Antonio Castillo, Chief Trial Counsel, DRE APC, said. "The biological Grandparents were not given the chance to take the kids back."
Castillo, legal representative for the Pettus's says there were some initial allegations of abuse to Orrin and Orson in 2018, when CPS took the boys from the family, but he says these allegations did not involve their parents.
"During the dates of the supposed abuse, the parents weren't even present," Castillo, said. "So this is when the kids were visiting other family members. How and why CPS would decide to take the kids out of the custody of their biological parents based off of that is a bit of a question mark."
He says after the boys were taken out of the family's custody, Brenda Pettus contacted CPS multiple times, letting them know she would be more than happy to take the boys. Castillo says cps ignored her request.
"What better place to put them, than with their own biological Grandparents, or a second-best alternative, a family friend, who was willing to take them on and somebody who was both familiar with the boys and the boys were familiar with them, as opposed to putting them into a constrained foster care home," Richie, said.
Tuesday, at the vigil in California City, recognizing the one-year anniversary since the boys were reported missing by Trazelle and Jacqueline, Rosanna Wills, cousin of Charles spoke about the lawsuit.
"It is what it is," Wills, said. "That's the next step that we have to take as a family because you know, it's a lot."
Last month investigators brought the boys' father in for a DNA test.
"Their father Charles in early November was brought in by one of the agencies, we don't know if it was just one of multiple, to essentially have blood drawn, so that they could do DNA matching to remains that either have been found or may be found," Castillo, said.
The father, the family, and the attorneys have not been told the result of the DNA test of the remains.
The lawsuit is for financial compensation. That amount will be decided upon by a Kern County jury. The law firm says the reason this lawsuit is being filed though is for justice and to make sure cps does not wrongfully take children away from another family.
The lawsuit was filed against kern county and the state in September, it's now in the process of being served.
Once the suit is officially served, Kern County will have 30 days to respond. It may not be served until after the first of the new year.
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