How Could You? Hall of Shame-Cesar Gonzales-Mugaburu caseUPDATED

This will be an archive of heinous actions by those involved in child welfare, foster care and adoption. We forewarn you that these are deeply disturbing stories that may involve sex abuse, murder, kidnapping and other horrendous actions.

From Long Island, New York, foster dad Cesar Gonzales-Mugaburu, 60, “was charged with endangering the welfare of a child and sexual misconduct.

Gonzales-Mugaburu was abusing children that Brentwood non-profit St. Christopher Otillie and the New York City children services placed under his care, police said. There was no information given on when the sexual abuse was happening.

He is scheduled to be indicted 10:30 a.m. Friday, according to police.

Gonzales-Mugaburu is being held on $35,000 bond at Suffolk County jail.”

Long Island foster parent accused of sexually abusing children in his care [Pix 11 3/18/16 by Katherine Lam]

REFORM Puzzle Piece

Update: “A Long Island man is accused of sexually abusing at least seven foster children in his care at a home prosecutors described as a “house of horrors.”

Cesar Gonzalez-Mugaburu, 60, of Ridge, pleaded not guilty to child endangerment and sexual misconduct charges at his arraignment Friday in state Supreme Court in Riverhead.

Suffolk County District Attorney Thomas Spota said the victims, who were as young as 8, were forced to live under punishing conditions.

“Physical contact, physical abuse, hitting them, denying them meals, making them stand out in the cold,” Spota said.

Neighbors claimed they saw some of the children rummaging through garbage cans in search of food, Spota said.

Mugaburu fostered 140 children over 19 years, earning as much as $18,000 a month, authorities said. The children were all boys with special needs.

The floodgates opened when seven boys recently came forward, afraid until now to admit the heinous abuse, CBS2’s Jennifer McLogan reported. The district attorney said Mugaburu also abused the family dog.

The victims said he threatened and controlled them with physical beatings, cutting off cell phone contact, not allowing girlfriends, and giving them two meals a day.

CBS2 asked neighbors if they had suspicions.

“We’ve seen him always putzing out there with his cars and the kids doing yard work, tidying up the place,” neighbor Christine Stein told CBS2.

“I’ve talked to them, played baseball with them, never complained. It’s insane. I never would have thought this,” neighbor Patrick Cawley said.

Authorities said the children were placed in his care by New York City child welfare officials and SCO Family of Services, a non-profit group on Long Island.

“SCO Family of Services is aware that the Suffolk County District Attorney has filed charges against a former SCO foster parent in connection with allegations of abuse and maltreatment,” the group said in a statement. “SCO considers the safety and wellbeing of children in our programs to be our absolute highest priority. We are cooperating with authorities as they continue their investigation. “

A spokeswoman for New York City’s Administration for Children’s Services didn’t immediately comment on the allegations.

The defense attorney denies Muguaburu was ever abusive, calling him a doting and caring father who was never in trouble with the law.

The district attorney wants to know if the nonprofit organization ever made house calls or checked up on Mugaburu in any way. Detectives said they expect there are dozens more victims.

He is being held on $500,000 bail. He faces up to 50 years in prison if convicted.”

Suffolk DA: Long Island Foster Parent Accused Of Sexually Abusing Boys, Dog
[CBS New York 3/18/16]

“Spota told The Associated Press that Gonzalez-Mugaburu earned as much as $18,000 a month as a foster parent for the children. He cared for between six and eight children at a time since at least 1996, the prosecutor said.

Some of them, some of whom were developmentally disabled, were subsequently adopted by Gonzalez-Mugaburu, although Spota said he did not immediately have details on how many.

He said prosecutors were only able to charge Gonzalez-Mugaburu with abusing seven children in the indictment unsealed Friday, because statute of limitations laws prevent filing charges involving other victims. He said two boys came forward in January and reported the alleged abuse to a caseworker, who contacted police. Detectives then launched a wider investigation.

“We know there were other victims,” Spota said.

He said that when Gonzalez-Mugaburu was brought in for questioning, he called a 28-year-old adoptee. When that adoptee went to a police station, detectives told him about the allegations and that man began cooperating with investigators.

“That opened the floodgates,” the prosecutor said.

Spota said it appears the boys were sheltered from the community, and were not permitted to participate in extracurricular activities at school, nor any athletics programs. He said he children were fed twice a day and were made to eat on the floor.

“He’s trying to devise every way he can to keep these kids contained,” Spota said.

A neighbor, Christine Stein, told CBS New York: “We’ve seen him always putzing out there with his cars and the kids doing yard work, tidying up the place.”

Authorities said the foster children were placed in his care by Brentwood, New York, non-profit St. Christopher Ottilie and the New York City Administration for Children Services. Rose Anello, a spokeswoman for St. Christopher Ottilie, says the organization placed 71 children with Gonzalez-Mugaburu over the past 19 years.

“This investigation should expand well beyond the offender to those who helped to enable this offender to access potential victims,” said Laura Ahearn, a victims’ rights advocate and executive director of Parents for Megan’s Law, which tracks alleged sex offenders.

Spota said the investigation is ongoing, and will include how the alleged abuse went undetected for so long.

Gonzalez-Mugaburu had no prior arrests, prosecutors said; Spota said investigators also are trying to determine how the suspect was permitted to be a foster parent, because he said the man has no employment record.

“He claims to be self-employed,” Spota said.

Statements issued by both the ACS and the non-profit said they were cooperating with the ongoing investigation.

Authorities told CBS New York that SCO Family of Services, a non-profit group on Long Island, also had a hand in placing the children in his care.

“SCO Family of Services is aware that the Suffolk County District Attorney has filed charges against a former SCO foster parent in connection with allegations of abuse and maltreatment,” the group said in a statement. “SCO considers the safety and wellbeing of children in our programs to be our absolute highest priority. We are cooperating with authorities as they continue their investigation. ”

A spokeswoman for New York City’s Administration for Children’s Services didn’t immediately comment on the allegations.

“I’ve talked to them, played baseball with them, never complained. It’s insane. I never would have thought this,” said another neighbor, Patrick Cawley.”

New York foster parent charged with sexually abusing boys, dog [CBS News 3/18/16]

Update 2:“A Long Island man accused of sexually abusing at least seven of his young foster children over two decades denied the charges and said he’s innocent.

Suspect Cesar Gonzalez-Mugaburu (Gon-ZAH’-leyz Moo-gah-BOO’-roo) made the comments during a jailhouse interview with The Daily News (http://nydn.us/22DC84s ) on Tuesday.

“I’m aware. They’re not true,” said Gonzalez-Mugaburu about the charges while inside the Riverhead Correctional Facility.

Gonzalez-Mugaburu, of Ridge, New York was charged last Friday with 17 counts of child endangerment and sexual misconduct. He’s accused of victimizing children as young as 8 and sexually abusing a dog.

The 59-year-old foster parent insisted the details made public about the case were “not accurate.”

Prosecutors said he has been a foster parent for up to 140 boys since at least 1996, earning as much as $18,000 a month.

Two boys reported the abuse earlier this year and investigators are looking into the possibility of other victims.”

A Long Island man accused of sexually abusing at least seven of his young foster children over two decades says he’s innocent [The Republic 3/23/16 by AP]

Update 3:“The Long Island foster dad from hell was branded a molester nine times — starting nearly two decades ago — but vulnerable children kept being sent into his lair.

Suffolk County child protection officials investigated accused pedophile Cesar Gonzales-Mugaburu repeatedly in response to complaints filed by kids in his charge, according to a New York City official familiar with the cases.

But investigators never substantiated the complaints, and kids continued to be sent to the alleged house of horrors for years. The probes began as early as 1998, the source said.

“They missed it over and over again,” the source added.

It is unclear why the Suffolk County authorities who reviewed the allegations were unable to figure out that Gonzales-Mugaburu, 59, was in fact molesting and abusing children as prosecutors now allege.

But as a result of earlier allegations, Suffolk County in 2002 told SCO Family of Services, the agency handling placement, to stop sending children to his home.

That information was never forwarded to the New York City Administration for Child Services, as protocol required, for any case involving a city child, according to the source familiar with the cases.

SCO issued a statement Sunday saying it was “shocked and deeply saddened over the circumstances that led to the indictment.” But the statement did not explain why it kept on sending ACS children to Gonzales-Mugaburu after he was banned by Suffolk County or why it failed to notify ACS about the investigations.

Gonzales-Mugaburu was charged March 18 with abusing seven children and the family dog. Suffolk County District Attorney Thomas Spota said he believes there are more victims, but his office is unable to bring additional criminal charges because of the statute of limitations.

Several of the 140 boys in Gonzales-Mugaburu’s care over the past two decades have told the Daily News about a chilling pattern of abuse. The children also told authorities they were repeatedly beaten, kept locked away for weeks and kicked outside in frigid temperatures.

News of Gonzales-Mugaburu’s arrest was no surprise to at least one former ward.

“Why put foster kids in his care?” one asked, noting the “allegations kept going.”

“For him it was all about money,” the former foster child said. “He was pretty sick.”

Meanwhile, Gonzales-Mugaburu earned as much as $18,000 a month as a foster parent. He filled his two-floor devil’s den with between six and eight children at a time since 1996.

When announcing the arrest, police acknowledged they had investigated prior allegations, but were never able to get enough evidence to substantiate them

Whenever a kid accuses a foster parent of sexual abuse, child-protection officials must forward the complaint to the police, who generally take over the investigation.

Other complaints, like educational neglect or excessive corporal punishment, are typically handled by child-protection investigators. They look for any physical signs of abuse like bruises or cuts and reach out to the kid’s school to check attendance.

It is unclear what the complaints against Gonzales-Mugaburu alleged.

But prosecutors say he fed the children twice a day and made some eat off the floor. Neighbors claimed they saw some of the children rummaging through garbage cans in search of food, according to Spota.

“Physical contact, physical abuse, hitting them, denying them meals, making them stand out in the cold,” he told reporters. “He’s trying to devise every way he can to keep these kids contained.”

The accused tormentor claims he’s innocent.

“I’m aware. They’re not true,”Gonzales-Mugaburu told The News during a jailhouse interview regarding the charges.

Suffolk County Child Protective Services has long struggled to carry out its mandate.

In 1995, a grand jury report concluded agency caseworkers lacked proper instruction and supervision, were overwhelmed by cumbersome bureaucracy, and were allowed to make important decisions on their own.

The report detailed multiple tragic circumstances, including one in which a caseworker let a 21/2-year-old boy live with his parents — despite major injuries and signs of abuse like bruised testicles.

The grand jury review made 50 recommendations for improved care, including boosting caseworker training.”
EXCLUSIVE: Alleged Long Island pedophile was investigated nine times since 1998 for abusing foster kids, but authorities did nothing [NY Daily News 3/28/16 y Reuven Blau]

Update 4:“A man who says he was sexually abused as a child by a sick Long Island foster dad is speaking out for the first time, urging state lawmakers to make it easier for survivors to seek justice.

Christopher Couret, 31, says he was victimized by Cesar Gonzales-Mugaburu, the perv charged in Suffolk County in March with abusing seven children and the family dog.

Prosecutors said there were likely more victims, but they were unable to pursue other cases because the statute of limitations had expired. Victims in New York have to pursue criminal charges or civil suits by their 23rd birthday.

Couret said he struggled with the decision to tell his story.

“I feel like I was alone and nobody really cared when I was living in foster care,” Couret said. “I was afraid of speaking out at first, because of the stigma or people knowing what happened to me. But I feel like I have to speak up for me, my brothers and others still seeking justice.”

When he finally mustered enough courage to contact law enforcement, there was nothing police could do.

“I tried reporting his crimes to the police,” Couret recalled. “They told me it was too late. They said too much time had passed. My case didn’t matter anymore.”

Days after Gonzales-Mugaburu’s arrest, Couret gave the Daily News a tour of the foster home where he allegedly endured years of mental and sexual abuse by the predator foster dad.

Couret initially asked to remain anonymous.

“This is my first time coming out of the shadows for this,” he said during an interview at his girlfriend’s house in Mastic, N.Y. “But this is my time to fight.”

 

Over the past few months, he has read The News’ campaign urging Albany politicians to extend the statute of limitations that prevent former child sexual abuse victims like him from seeking justice.

Couret complained about the abusive treatment to investigators years ago, to no avail. Instead, they threatened to toss him into a hospital, he alleges.

“Every time I tried telling the foster care system that he was abusing me, they would tell me, it’s either here or you’re going back to the hospital,” he recalled.

The News reported that the alleged Long Island foster father from hell was investigated at least nine times for abusing kids. But authorities did nothing.

“He tricked the system. He wasn’t a good dad at all,” Couret said. “A lot of these pedophiles are middle class people with power (like) priests, principals, teachers.”

Couret wants politicians to know that it often takes years for victims to come forward.

“Victims feel like (they) don’t have any power,” he said.

In his case, the sexual abuse started with his birth mother. He was sent to Gonzales-Mugaburu’s home to escape abuse — but similar horrors continued, beginning at 13.

“Living here was miserable,” he said during his return visit to the home in March. “He would lock me in the room for up to a month.”

But that alleged abuse will not be included in the upcoming criminal case against Gonzales-Mugaburu.

Still, Couret is looking forward to the trial.

“I don’t want him to leave jail ever,” he said. “He doesn’t deserve to be free. He made me struggle. It makes me sick. I want all of us to get justice.”

Several measures are under consideration to reform the statute of limitations. The legislative session ends June 16.”

Man sexually abused by perverted Long Island foster dad calls on lawmakers to pass bill: ‘Victims feel like (they) don’t have any power’[NY Daily News 6/4/16 by Edgar Sandoval]

Update 5: “A Ridge man already charged with sexually abusing his foster children was indicted on new and more severe charges Thursday by a special grand jury that is also examining the state’s foster care system.

Cesar Gonzales-Mugaburu, 60, is now charged with predatory sexual assault against a child, a crime that carries the same maximum penalty as second-degree murder — 25 years to life in prison.”

Cesar Gonzales-Mugaburu faces more sexual assault charges[News Day 9/22/16 by Andrew Smith]

Update 6:“A foster father who took in more than 100 troubled boys over 20 years and is on trial for sexually abusing eight of the children operated a house that was a “horrific place” where boys lived in fear and needed permission to go to the bathroom, prosecutors said Wednesday.

In opening arguments, Suffolk County prosecutor Laurie Moroff described Cesar Gonzales-Mugaburu’s suburban Long Island home in Ridge, New York, as a beautiful house with a pool, but inside the children lived in a prison.

The foster system was like a candy store filled with boys for him, Moroff said. She said Gonzales-Mugaburo would threaten to shoot the boys or run them over with a car if they didn’t obey him.

“It was a horrific place to live, eating on the floor, and not allowed to do anything without asking permission first including going to the bathroom,” Moroff said outside the court. “They lived in fear, they were afraid.”

Defense attorney Donald Mates said there was no truth to the charges, calling it a “witch hunt.” He said the accusers were all troubled boys. Some had psychiatric conditions like schizophrenia, ADHD, bipolar disorder and other conditions, Mates said.

“When you hear an allegation of eight children over 20 years and there has been more than 100 children in his home eight is really not a lot,” Mates said outside the courtroom.

Gonzales-Mugaburu, 60, was arrested in January 2016, after authorities said two boys in his care reported alleged abuse to a caseworker. Prosecutors said that prompted a wider investigation, which led to additional charges involving other alleged victims.

In addition to the alleged abuse of the boys, prosecutors also said the man sexually abused a dog in front of a child.

Gonzales-Mugaburu has pleaded not guilty to child endangerment, sexual misconduct and other charges, and remains jailed on $1 million bond. His lawyer disputes that any abuse took place at his client’s home.

The case against the Long Island man sparked an investigation into New York’s foster care system that found “abysmal” communication among the child welfare agencies involved.

Prosecutors said Gonzales-Mugaburu earned more than $1.5 million over two decades as a foster parent, caring for particularly troubled boys, which entitled him to a higher income than a traditional foster parent. He cared for as many as six to eight children at a time since at least 1996.

An 83-page report released by Suffolk County District Attorney Thomas Spota last month outlined a remarkable series of failures that allowed Gonzales-Mugaburu to take in more than 100 children over 20 years, despite being the subject of 18 separate child abuse investigations. None of those investigations led to criminal charges.

The report said rules intended to protect the reputations of falsely accused foster parents were partly to blame. Substandard abuse investigations were another issue. But the biggest problem, the report said, was the simple failure of four governmental and one nonprofit child welfare agencies to share information.

Mates said he disagreed with the findings in the report. There never was any reason for the agencies to fail to uncover abuse, because, he said, it never happened. Mates also said that at least some of the alleged victims have a financial reason to see Gonzales-Mugaburu convicted because they have filed lawsuits against an agency that placed them in his home.

A spokeswoman for SCO Family of Services, one of the state’s largest foster home providers which placed dozens of children with Gonzales-Mugaburu, has said it never uncovered any evidence of abuse prior to his arrest.

SCO said since the scandal erupted, it has worked with the state, the Administration for Children’s Services and Suffolk County “to diligently address each and every concern about the quality of care provided in this home.””

Prosecutors: Foster father’s home a ‘horrific place’ [Star Tribune 3/29/17 by Frank Eltman]
“The trial of a Long Island foster father accused of sexually abusing numerous children in his care began on Wednesday, as prosecutors described how his outwardly tranquil home — with its manicured lawn and classic cars parked in the driveway — was “like a prison” inside for the boys he was raising, many of whom suffered from mental illness or had low I.Q.s.

Inside, boys would wake up in the middle of the night to find the foster father, Cesar Gonzales-Mugaburu, on top of them, prosecutors said. Or they would wander through the house chasing the two dogs, only to come across Mr. Gonzales-Mugaburu sexually abusing another child.

One boy submitted to being raped, prosecutors said, in the hope that if he occupied his foster father’s attention, Mr. Gonzales-Mugaburu would be less likely to rape the boy’s younger brother.

“These boys lived in fear — fear of a man who would threaten them physically, physically assaulted them, threatened to shoot them with a gun, threatened to run them over with a car, threatened them into submission,” Laurie Moroff, an assistant district attorney in Suffolk County, told the jury in her opening statement. “They lived in the world the defendant created.”

And a lot of boys lived in that world. Mr. Gonzales-Mugaburu’s indictment sent tremors through New York’s foster care system, not only because of the nightmarish substance of the allegations, but also because of the number of boys who had been entrusted to him. Over two decades, New York City’s child welfare agency sent 95 boys to live with him. In all, 106 boys were placed with Mr. Gonzales-Mugaburu, who had convinced social service agencies that he was adept at raising troubled adolescent boys. He even took in three boys from Washington State, adopting two of them.

The allegations against Mr. Gonzales-Mugaburu exposed major gaps in oversight. Who was responsible for these children’s well-being and for vetting the foster parent? On paper, numerous agencies were involved in the lives of most of these children: New York City’s child welfare agency, the nonprofit agencies it entrusted to find and vet foster homes, the authorities in Suffolk County that received and investigated each allegation of child abuse or neglect. But the agencies communicated little, even when concerns arose about Mr. Gonzales-Mugaburu.

Those communication failures were examined in an article in The New York Times last year and in a grand jury report released in February by the Suffolk County District Attorney’s office, which is prosecuting Mr. Gonzales-Mugaburu. The grand jury report noted that “the magnitude and similarity of the allegations, along with the number of victims, should have prompted a greater response from each child welfare agency.”

Over the years, at least a dozen complaints — possibly several dozen — were lodged against Mr. Gonzales-Mugaburu, often anonymously, regarding the abuse or neglect of children in his care.

At times, even his neighbors in Ridge, N.Y., saw signs that something was wrong, prosecutors said. They noticed that Mr. Gonzales-Mugaburu would sometimes lock a child outside of the house, even in cold weather. Or that one of the boys would scavenge food from a neighbor’s garbage can, Ms. Moroff said.

Mr. Gonzales-Mugaburu, 60, is charged with sexually abusing six children and of endangering the welfare of two more. In court in Riverhead, N.Y., on Wednesday, Mr. Gonzales-Mugaburu offered little visible reaction. When Ms. Moroff, the prosecutor, told the jury that Mr. Gonzales-Mugaburu had begun sexually abusing one foster child in 1996, when the boy was 9 years old, the defendant appeared to shake his head slightly.

His lawyer, Donald A. Mates Jr., said the allegations were made up. “This crazy story that you heard is just that,” he told the jury.

He sought to undermine the credibility of the accusers, some of whom are now in their 20s. “Each one of these boys are troubled boys,” he said, citing emotional and behavioral challenges. “If you look at it separately, each one of these young men are not good witnesses.”

Mr. Mates described the foster father as a “disciplinarian,” but not abusive. And he suggested that it was unlikely that so much sexual abuse could have persisted for so many years without the authorities catching on sooner. He noted that social workers made regular visits to his client’s home and that Mr. Gonzales-Mugaburu managed to be recertified every year as a foster parent

“Evidence will show he had nothing to hide,” Mr. Mates said, describing Mr. Gonzales-Mugaburu as simply a “generous man who opens his home” to troubled children.

“It’s time to give Cesar back his good name,” the defense lawyer said.”
Sex Abuse Trial of Foster Father Paints His Home as ‘a Prison’[New York Times 3/29/17 By ARIELLE DOLLINGER and JOSEPH GOLDSTEIN]

“A Mastic Beach man spent the day Tuesday telling jurors about an odyssey of sexual and psychological abuse he says his adoptive father inflicted on him, and his years struggling to break free and get authorities to believe him.

The man, now 29, said that within months of his arrival as a foster child at the Ridge home of Cesar Gonzales-Mugaburu, sexual comments and pornography developed into twice-daily sex acts — sometimes even when other foster children were in the room.

Gonzales-Mugaburu would hide the boy, whom Newsday is not naming, under a blanket at times so others wouldn’t see what was going on.

Gonzales-Mugaburu, 60, is on trial before Suffolk County Court Judge Barbara Kahn, charged with sexually abusing six boys, some of whom he later adopted, and a dog. The most serious charge, predatory sexual assault against a child, carries a maximum sentence of 25 years to life.

Defense attorney Donald Mates Jr. of Hauppauge said in his opening statement that the boys’ stories aren’t credible and his client sexually abused no one.

The Mastic Beach man’s testimony was vivid and explicit, but sometimes hazy on details. He was forced to correct himself a few times on when certain events in his childhood happened.

During questioning by Assistant District Attorney Laurie Moroff, the man said Gonzales-Mugaburu also tried to crush his spirit.

“You’re mentally retarded,” Gonzales-Mugaburu told him, he said. “You’re not going to go nowhere in life. You’ll always be retarded.”

The man said that as a boy, he was diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, oppositional defiant disorder and obsessive compulsive disorder. He took medication for those conditions, he said.

“Well, you did get somewhere in life, didn’t you?” Moroff asked him.

“I sure did,” the man said, a note of pride in his voice.

He lives on his own and has held a series of blue collar jobs. But he said he has also been arrested a few times, including once for being an accomplice in an armed robbery.

At the age of 8, the man said he knew he could force his departure from the Ridge home if he acted badly enough. So he said he got himself in trouble at Ridge Elementary School for stealing a classmate’s watch and trashing the principal’s office.

He succeeded in getting transferred to another foster home in Uniondale, but four years later he got in a fight with another boy there and SCO, the Glen Cove-based foster agency, sent him back to Gonzales-Mugaburu. He said SCO therapists and case workers never talked to him without Gonzales-Mugaburu within earshot.

The night before his adoption at 14, he said he ran away to Manhattan. After a police officer found him, an SCO caseworker drove him back to the agency’s Brentwood office, where he said Gonzales-Mugaburu was waiting.

The abuse continued, he said. After high school graduation, the man said he ran away for the last time. He said he told police and Child Protective Services what was happening to him and other boys, but no charges were brought.

Then, in January 2016, he said Gonzales-Mugaburu called him to say he’d been arrested for endangering the welfare of two boys by making sexual comments. “About time,” the man said he thought to himself.

He said he decided to speak up one last time, telling a Suffolk detective about life in the Ridge house. Then, he said, “One by one, I brought my brothers forward.”

The man said he has a suit pending against SCO for its failure to protect him.

“I’m not doing it just for the money,” he testified.

“What are you doing it for?” Moroff asked.

“Freedom.””

Former foster child details sexual abuse, torment in Ridge home [News Day 4/5/17 by Andrew Smith]

“One of the alleged victims of a Ridge foster father accused of sexually abusing his adopted sons took the stand Wednesday inside a Riverhead courtroom.

The man, now 21 years old, testified that he was just 10 when Cesar Gonzales-Mugaburu allegedly started sexually abusing him.

Gonzales-Mugaburu is accused of molesting six foster sons over 20 years and emotionally tormenting two others.

All the alleged victims have special needs. The jury was told that today’s alleged victim has an IQ of 62.

The alleged victim testified that Mugaburu would not feed him, so when he was hungry he would “look in trash cans.”

As for the alleged sex abuse, he said he felt “horrible” and “confused.”

“Who would do that to their own kid?” he asked.

During the cross-examination, Gonzales-Mugaburu’s defense attorney asked the alleged victim about a statement he had allegedly given to police in 2015. In that statement, he allegedly said he was not the victim of any kind of abuse.

“A year before Cesar’s arrest, we have this witness denying anything happened, and calling…a foster brother a liar, saying he makes things up when he gets mad at Cesar,” said attorney Donald Mates. “If that’s not reasonable doubt, what is?”

District Attorney Tom Spota, who sat in the courtroom for the testimony, sees it differently.

“I find them very credible, believable, each one. While they’re telling a little different version, it all comes down to one thing – that there was something bad going on in that house,” said Spota.

Prosecutors have said Gonzales-Mugaburu used the foster care system to pad his own pockets, earning $18,000 a month to house the boys. He faces up to 50 years behind bars, if convicted.”

Alleged sex abuse victim takes stand after Ridge foster father [Long Island News 4/12/17 ]

“Jurors deliberated for a third day Wednesday in the trial of a Ridge foster father accused of sexually abusing several boys in his care.

It was shortly after 11 a.m. when Judge Barbara Kahn reconvened the jury in the trial against Cesar Gonzalez-Mugaburu, who is accused in a 17-count indictment of sexually molesting six foster sons and endangering the welfare of two others between 1996 and 2015.

During day two of deliberations, the jury asked the judge for the dates that one of the boys was living in Gonzalez-Mugaburu’s home.

“I believe there are some inconsistencies in some of the boy’s testimony and that the dates that they are looking for do not corroborate each other,” said defense attorney Donald Mates.

The jury also asked for the definitions of two of the charges against Gonzalez-Mugaburu.

Gonzalez-Mugaburu adopted the six boys who are the alleged victims in the indictment. Prosecutors say he ran a therapeutic foster home for boys who were developmentally disabled or had behavioral problems.

Last week, one of the alleged victims took the stand inside the Riverhead courtroom. He testified that Gonzalez-Mugaburu would not feed him when he was hungry, so he would search through the trash.

The most serious charge against Gonzalez-Mugaburu is predatory sexual assault against a child, which carries a maximum sentence of 25 years to life.

Jurors ended the day without a verdict. They’ll return on Thursday.”

Jurors Deliberate For 3rd Day in Foster Father Sex Abuse Trial [Long Island News 4/26/17]

“Jurors continued Friday to deliberate the fate of a Long Island foster father accused of sexually molesting eight boys — but have still not come up with a verdict.

A day earlier, jurors told Suffolk County Court Judge Barbara Khan they were deadlocked on whether or not accused serial pedophile Cesar Gonzales-Mugaburu was guilty.

The jury, which has been deliberating since Monday afternoon following a month-long trial, was ordered to keep working. They will resume deliberations Monday.”

Jury still deciding fate of Long Island foster father accused of sexually abusing eight boys under his care[New York Daily News 4/28/17 by Chelsia Rose Macius and Denis Slattery]

Update 7: Cesar was Acquitted!

“A Long Island jury, after seven tumultuous and teary days, delivered a stunning acquittal to a man charged with sexually abusing his foster sons over a period of 19 years.

The Suffolk County panel found defendant Cesar Gonzales-Mugaburu not guilty of 17 criminal counts for what prosecutors had called a relentless reign of sexual abuse and terror.

“Difficult deliberations, sleepless nights, very difficult work,” juror Gregory Condemi, 59, of Ridge, L.I., said after the verdict was read. “People were physically ill. One girl had high blood pressure.

“There was dizziness, fainting, stomach problems.”

The cascade of “not guilty” for each charge came despite graphic and grotesque testimony of rampant sexual and physical abuse from all eight of the foster kids inside the defendant’s Ridge home.

Gonzales-Mugaburu, 60, stood silently with tears welling in his eyes outside the courthouse after the jury let him walk. He faced up to 50 years in prison.

In contrast, one of his foster kids, 29-year-old Mark Gonzales-Mugaburu, was left devastated and weeping by the verdict.

“I’m at a loss for words,” said Mark, who was legally adopted by his foster dad. “Our fight, our testimony just went down the drain. He always had the system wrapped around his pinky. He did it again.”

Even worse, he said, was the worry that none of the boys were safe anymore.

“We have to live with this fear for the rest of our lives, that we got physically, mentally and sexually abused — and he’s a free man today,” he said.

The eyes of several jurors were also glistening when they returned with the verdict at 11:30 a.m.

Jury foreman Tim Carney, after reading the verdicts aloud, said the jury was divided for days before finally reaching a consensus.

“It was hard, a lot of emotions in the room,” said Carney, 48, of Islip. “It was tough.”

But he and other jurors agreed that prosecutors, despite doing a good job, never proved their case against Gonzales-Mugaburu.

Some cited a lack of physical evidence to back up the vile stories told by the young witnesses. Others wondered why some potential prosecution witnesses — including the case’s main investigator, Suffolk police Detective Michelle DiMartino — were not called.

“It was kind of a cliffhanger,” said juror Louise Corcoran, 48, of West Islip. “We were waiting for the rest of the story. It never came.”

DiMartino, who interviewed all the alleged victims during the police investigation, declined comment when asked why she wasn’t called to testify.

“All I can say is that it’s horrendous,” she told the Daily News.

DiMartino’s name came up several times during the trial, but prosecutors repeatedly refused to say why the detective didn’t take the stand.

The jurors were initially split 10-2 in favor of an acquittal, and needed a full seven days to reach a consensus.

The boys testified that they were raped and sexually assaulted at Gonzales-Mugaburu’s whim, and subjected to physical and emotional abuse.

n contrast, Gonzales-Mugaburu declined to take the witness stand in his own defense in the trial that began March 29. He was accused of sexually abusing six of the youngsters, and endangering the welfare of the other two.

Prosecutors acknowledged they were blindsided by the jury’s decision.

“We’re surprised with the verdict,” said Dari Schwartz, Suffolk district attorney bureau chief of child abuse and domestic violence.

“We’re disappointed in it,” she continued. “The children weren’t believed. It was heartbreaking and I imagine when the children hear the verdict they too will be broken.”

None of the defendant’s accusers were in the courtroom to hear the verdict.

Gonzales-Mugaburu returned to his suburban home after the verdict. Ignoring a “CONDEMNED” sign, he climbed in through a basement window. The house was condemned in January after falling into disrepair. But Gonzales-Mugaburu was allowed to remain after a visit from the Suffolk County police.

His lawyer, Donald Mates, tossed three bags of clothes over a fence around the property.

“Obviously he’s very happy, very emotional,” said Mates outside the courtroom. “We can just hope he gets his good name back after it’s been smeared over the past year and a half.”

Gonzales-Mugaburu would likely have faced additional accusers, but the state’s statute of limitations on child sex abuse cases had run out on some of the children’s claims.

The News led the fight last year to pass the Child Victims Act, which would eliminate the current law requiring child sex abuse victims to seek criminal charges or civil penalties by age 23.

The legislation, first introduced in 2006, has failed to pass on five occasions.

Prosecutors charged the defendant turned perversion into profit, raking as much as $18,000 a month in city and state foster care payments for taking the boys into his home.

During his two decades as a foster dad, Gonzales-Mugaburu took in as many as 140 children into the home — and collected more than $1.5 million.

He was arrested in March 2015 after two of the kids reported the sexual abuse charges to a caseworker. It marked the first prosecution of Gonzales-Mugaburu despite 18 earlier child abuse investigations.

Gonzales-Mugaburu’s Long Island neighbors were less than enthused to see him back.

“I’m stunned, stunned by the outcome,” said resident Anne Lange. “The kids made no impression at all? I feel like the kids got no justice at all.”

She and husband Mike, a retired Suffolk police officer, noted the local school bus drops students off right next to the acquitted man’s house.

The 70-year-old ex-cop said he wished the boys in the house had spoken with him.

“The kids never said a word to me,” he said. “I had a police car parked right outside for years. It didn’t stop it.””

Long Island foster dad accused of sexually abusing eight children in his care acquitted on all charges[NY Daily News 5/2/17 by BY Chelsia Rose Marcius Edgar Sandoval Larry Mcshane]

Update 8:“A Long Island jury may have decided that an accused serial molester of foster children could walk free Tuesday — but the legal fight for the kids isn’t over.

Despite the stunning acquittal, that fight is just starting to gain steam, says a lawyer for the boys who once lived with Cesar Mugaburu-Gonzales.

While Suffolk County prosecutors prepared their case against Mugaburu-Gonzales — charged in March 2016 for allegedly running a house of horrors — two boys sued the placement agency that sent them and almost 70 other boys to the home over the years.

In all, 140 children were sent to live with Mugaburu-Gonzales.”

Kids sue agency for sending them to ‘unsafe’ Long Island foster home after accused molester is acquitted

[NY Daily News 5/3/17 by Andrew Keshner]

“Seven days of deadlocked jury deliberations in the sex abuse trial of a single foster father are over. Despite allegations that he abused multiple children for almost 20 years while receiving $1.5 million in foster care payments, after three weeks of testimony a Long Island jury acquitted Cesar Gonzales-Mugaburu of all 17 counts on May 2. The jury found he was not guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, thus sparing him from 25 years in prison at age 60.

In sharp contrast, the Suffolk County Special Grand Jury issued an 83-page report last year that blamed foster care agencies and officials whose duty was to protect children for allowing grave harm to many of our most vulnerable children in state foster care.

The grand jury report probes how 18 reports of abuse against Gonzales-Mugaburu were repeatedly ruled “unfounded” over a 20-year period.

The detailed answers in the report are:

• • Vulnerable special needs children with ADHD, borderline or bipolar disorder do not disclose abuse and are tricked into thinking that the abuse is normal.
  • Reports are “unfounded” when a child is pressured not to disclose through threats of being taken away or moved to a worse home, to a hospital or to jail.

• Investigators interviewed child victims in the presence of their possibly abusive foster parent. The possible perpetrator was given advance notice of the interview, thereby permitting him to threaten punishment against the child.
• There was no written, formal interoffice notice from investigators to the private foster care agency of its dispositional finding. This enabled placements to continue.
• The Office of Children and Family Services (OCFS) could not determine how many investigations took place because the private agency had no mechanism to notify its senior management. Therefore no “independent investigations” of the safety of the foster home were conducted by the private agency itself or by the government agency.
• The state’s Child Protective Services (CPS) Program Manual requires that it notify the county that has custody of a child named as the abused or maltreated party in any investigation. Suffolk County CPS did not notify New York City’s Administration for Children’s Services pursuant to this directive.
• The private agency did not make or document annual re-evaluation visits to the foster home.
• The private agency certified the home for more children than the law allowed.

The grand jury found that the sole source of the foster parent’s income was from $1.5 million in foster and adoption subsidies. As a result, the foster parent was highly motivated to maximize the number of children placed in his home, at the highest possible payment rate.

The grand jury recommended the following executive, administrative and legislative changes:

• Eliminate the statute of limitations in civil and criminal cases involving a sexual offense.
• Require foster parents to provide tax returns for initial certification and annually thereafter.
• False statements made by the foster parent in an application or recertification should permit the foster care providing agency to nullify and void the foster parent contract.
• The OCFS Child Protective Services Program Manual should be amended to:
• Require CPS investigators to interview foster child away from the foster home outside the presence of the foster parent.
• Mandate a minimum number of unannounced visits to a foster home each year.

The grand jury report provides informative details of New York’s statutory and regulatory foster care system. It is a good beginning for advocates to work to reform and improve this often mismanaged system.

The authors uphold the principle that the law should not allow prison time unless a unanimous jury finds guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. Simultaneously, we advocate for the reforms mentioned in the grand jury report.

There is enormous room for improvement. Do not let this criminal verdict thwart the real need for change.”

A Tale of Two Juries on Foster Father Accused of Sex Abuse

[Youth Today 5/7/17 by Bruce Young and Daniel Pollack]