A San Bernardino County sheriff’s deputy performed a welfare check on a home about the possible abuse of a 10-month-old boy three months before he was pronounced dead at a hospital after being severely burned — a death that prompted murder charges against his mother and her boyfriend, interviews show.
The Sheriff’s Department confirmed the visit at the babysitter’s Sugarloaf home, which the sitter’s mother said she requested, but details of what the deputy saw and any actions authorities took have not been publicly revealed.
If any concern reached Children and Family Services, a county agency that investigates allegations of child abuse, that information likewise has not been publicly disclosed. County spokesman David Wert said he could not, for now, say whether any call about the boy came into the agency, but he did say that its caseworkers did not open an investigation on Henry Wheatley Brown’s health before he died on Oct. 2.
Even if an agency did open a case, such an investigation does not always substantiate complaints of abuse, at least to a level where authorities are compelled to remove a child from the parents or guardians.
The actions of the deputy and what the Sheriff’s Department did with the information are under investigation, said Gloria Huerta, a sheriff’s spokeswoman.
Samantha Victoria Garver, 33, has pleaded not guilty to charges of murder and willful child cruelty. Sergio Vincent Mena, 32, has pleaded not guilty to charges of murder, assault on a child causing death and willful child cruelty. They are both being held without the possibility of bail and are next due in court on Jan. 8. Messages left with their attorneys seeking comment were not returned.
Although the Sheriff’s Department has said Henry was severely burned, the official cause of his death has been listed as pending, and officials have not provided details on the death such as if the burns contributed to it.
“We want all the justice for Henry, no matter what that looks like for Samantha and Sergio,” said Stephanie Duncan, who in an interview with the Southern California News Group identified herself as the mother of a teenager who babysat Henry several times in May and June.
Henry, who lived with his mom and her boyfriend about a mile away, was a welcomed presence in the Duncans’ home in the unincorporated Sugarloaf community beyond the eastern tip of Big Bear Lake. Duncan’s 14-year-old daughter loved Henry.
“Henry was sweet, snuggly, soft, and loved to be rocked to sleep,” Duncan said. “He gave great hugs and nuzzled necks just like the best babies do.”
But there were concerns.
“We all noticed neglect,” said Duncan, who added that she initially attributed that to being a child of a struggling family doing the best it could. “He would come over with no toys, hardly any clothes or diapers, disgustingly filthy bottles. On multiple occasions, I purchased those things for him myself. It was noted by us all that he was always dirty and so, so skinny. He often had small bruises on his torso and arms but nothing that merited calling the authorities.”
Eveline Cook noticed, too.
Cook said she rented the first floor of her two-story home to Garver and Mena on Sept. 1. Cook, who lives on the second floor about six months out of the year, recalled in an interview from Germany her experiences with a couple she has never met.
“She sent me pictures of the baby and her boyfriend, and they made it sound like they were married and were going to live happily ever after,” Cook said. “But they were not married. She met him in June. That baby looked very pale, and I thought it looked a little sickly, but I wouldn’t have considered it abused. I thought when I get home, I might become friends with them and fatten the little booger up.”
But Duncan changed her mind about Henry’s health when he showed up on June 28, she said, “with a massive 4-6-inch-scabbed-over-and-bruised scrape on his head and a 2-inch bruise in the middle of his forehead that looked like a shoe print. His torso was bruised and he had a handprint on his left arm.”
Two days later, with Henry still being babysat in her home, Duncan said, she called the Sheriff’s Department.
Huerta, the Sheriff’s Department spokeswoman, confirmed that a deputy went to the home of someone who identified herself as Duncan with an address that matched the one Duncan provided to the Southern California News Group. The call was dispatched as a “welfare check,” Huerta said.
Duncan said the deputy examined Henry. She also showed him the photos of the injuries she took on the 28th. His injuries had healed somewhat from then, Duncan said.
“He said babies who aren’t walking shouldn’t have those types of injuries,” Duncan said.
The deputy went to his patrol car, came back, and said he would go visit Garver and Mena, Duncan said.
From there, information on the Sheriff’s Department’s actions are unclear.
“A report was generated,” Huerta said. “The facts of the call are still under investigation.”
The Southern California News Group requested a copy of that report, as well as a log of any calls about Henry made to Children and Family Services, under the California Public Records Act.
Wert, the county spokesman, said that within 10 days after the completion of the Children and Family Services’ post-death investigation and a determination on whether abuse or neglect contributed to Henry’s death, the county will release a redacted copy of any referral to that agency via a call.
“The county as a whole and leadership of our Children and Family Services feel a deep sense of sadness for every abused and neglected child in this county, and we mourn the loss of Henry,” Wert said.
On Oct. 2, the Sheriff’s Department again learned about Henry after the Big Bear Fire Department responded to a report of a baby not breathing at a home in the 700 block of Santa Barbara Avenue. Henry was unresponsive and suffering from severe burns to his body, the Sheriff’s Department said in a news release. Investigators determined Henry had previously been abused after discovering additional injuries, the release said. The boy was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Cook said she cried for nine days after learning of Henry’s death and that she received death threats: After television news reports showed her house, Cook said, some people wrongly concluded that she was accused of killing Henry — not his mother and her boyfriend.
She had thought the family, despite having financial troubles that left it behind in the rent, could have made a go of it at her home. Cook described the residence as having a “country-French-hunting-lodge look” on a 12,500-square-foot lot next to the forest.
“That would have been a beautiful place for a child to be raised,” she said.
Anyone concerned about the well-being of a person in San Bernardino County can call Children and Family Services’ hotline at 800-827-8724.
