The case of two missing California City toddlers tugged at heartstrings across the nation as their disappearance raised haunting questions.
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What contact did the Cal City brothers have with CPS? Answers remain elusive after Kern DHS denies records request
The case of two missing California City toddlers tugged at heartstrings across the nation as their disappearance raised haunting questions.
Answers about any abuse Orrin, 4, and Orson, 3, West may have faced remain elusive after the Kern County Department of Human Services denied a records request by The Californian made nearly a month ago. It's a decision lawyers described as falling on shaky legal ground. Records pursuant to Senate Bill 39 are to be released within 10 days after a request.
According to the Kern County District Attorney’s Office, something went awry three months before the boys' adoptive parents reported in December 2020 that the brothers went missing from their California City home. Kern County grand jurors heard prosecutors question more than 50 witnesses, which led them last year to indict adoptive parents Trezell and Jacqueline West. They were charged with murder and other crimes in the deaths of Orrin and Orson West.
If a child dies, state Senate Bill 39, which became effective in 2008, requires the release of any abuse or neglect referrals made when the child lived with a parent or guardian, risk and safety assessments of that child, health care records reflecting a pattern of abuse or neglect, and copies of police reports against whom the abuse or neglect was substantiated.
Orrin was removed from his parents' care in 2016 and Orson was taken away in 2017 after Kern Child Protective Services accused the boys' biological parents of abuse, according to a federal civil lawsuit filed on behalf of mother Ryan Dean against the Kern County DHS. While Dean visited her boys cared for by Trezell and Jacqueline West, she noticed signs of abuse, according to the federal lawsuit.
Trezell and Jacqueline West are scheduled to appear in court March 1 for attorneys to argue motions in their criminal trial.
An email to The Californian from DHS senior paralegal Etta Sharp said a gag order implemented by a Kern County Superior Court judge in the Wests’ criminal case sealed records, including documents that “may be in our agency’s possession.”
“I am unable to release any information at this time related to your request,” Sharp wrote Tuesday.
But a gag order enacted by a trial court judge doesn’t trump a state law requiring disclosing records, David Loy, the legal director at the First Amendment Coalition, said Friday. He added a sweeping gag order also violates First Amendment rights.
“Judges are bound to uphold the law and not ignore it,” he added.
Two other attorneys told The Californian they are unsure whether a gag order can prevent a government entity from refusing to release documents under state legislation.
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